KARACHI: Five children suffered serious injuries on their faces and heads when a stray dog attacked them in the Manghopir area, it emerged on Saturday.

Sources said that the incident took place on Friday and their parents had to leave a government hospital in Orangi Town because of non-availability of the life-saving treatment there.

They said that five children, aged between four and six, were brought from to the Sindh Government Qatar Hospital on Friday evening with category three wounds, requiring immediate shots of rabies immunoglobulin (RIG) — a life-saving serum essential for all serious animal exposures.

“Such injuries require treatment with RIG that we don’t have. This costly medicine [from the government] is only provided to tertiary care facilities while Qatar Hospital serves as a secondary care facility,” a doctor at the hospital told Dawn on the condition of anonymity.

Officials say dog-bite victims could not get life-saving treatment at Orangi’s Qatar Hospital that referred them to CHK

He added that the staff properly washed children’s wounds with a disinfectant before advising the parents to take them to the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK).

Asked whether the children received shots of anti-rabies vaccines, he explained: “We do have ample stocks of anti-rabies vaccines but these drugs build up passive immunity in two weeks. What such victims need is the anti-rabies serum (RIG) that will give them immediate protection from the life-threatening rabies’ infection.”

The hospital staff further stated the children had multiple injuries on their face and head and some of them might need reconstructive surgeries.

Meanwhile, officials at the CHK have denied receiving the cases involving five children from the same area.

“A lot of children do report with dog-bite injuries daily, though. The hospital has a dedicated facility for treating the patients, including RIG and the vaccines,” said Additional Medical Superintendent Dr Liaquat Ali Halo.

He said that dog-bite cases had increased sharply in recent weeks.

Rabies is a highly underreported disease as most hospitals do not maintain its data. In many cases, patients die before diagnosis could be made as families turn to faith healers or fail to receive required treatment at hospitals.

It is estimated that Karachi alone reports 150 to 300 cases of dog-bites daily.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024