KARACHI, April 24: Seven children belonging to the Azam Basti area were bitten by a seemingly rabid dog on Thursday. The children were taken to the accident and emergency department of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for treatment.

The chief of the department, Dr Seemin Jamali, told Dawn that the names and ages of the children involved were: Shahid Raza, 12; Sami, 3; Soonu, 8; Murad, 7; Faizan, 10; Shaan, 6; and, Shaheen, 3.

Despite considerable effort, the dog couldn’t be tracked and killed by the residents of the neighbourhood where the incident took place. Dr Jamali said the children had been vaccinated and immunoglobulin injections prescribed.

She said the hospital didn’t have enough funds to administer the said injections free. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t have asked the parents of the children to buy these injections from the market.”

Rabies, if allowed to develop fully, is 100 per cent fatal. “There’s no treatment for rabies. The only thing available to us is prevention,” said Dr Jamali.

CS: Taking notice of the increasing dogbite incidents and abundance of stray dogs in Karachi, Sindh Chief Secretary K. B. Rind has directed the health department and the DCO of Karachi to take effective measures to overcome the situation, adds PPI.