Has the government failed to deal with rabies cases?

In a country where pet-owning is still taboo, it is natural that the stray dog population will increase. This, however, does not mean that pet dogs do not attack humans or animals in front of them.

The current wave of dog bitten victims in Sindh continues to be a serious concern as there is a paucity, if not un-availability of anti-rabies injection. During 2020, many cases of a dog biting victims went into veins.

Let’s take a look at why the dog-bitten incidents are kept increasing, and what steps the government has taken in this regard.

The Statistics

The problem is quite severe in Karachi, where numerous cases of dog bites have been reported over the past year. As per details, in 2019, a total of 10,886 dog bite cases were reported at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center in Karachi compared to 8,000 registered in 2018. These cases have been on the rise since 2011.

In early 2020, around 150 people including children were bitten by stray dogs in Karachi in just four days. Thirty to 40 wounded people are brought to the Jinnah hospital every day.

In Larkana, the stronghold of PPP, a six-year-old boy died after being brutally bitten by a mob of dogs. On 1st March 2020, another minor dog-bite victim succumbed to his injuries in Sukkur allegedly after the hospital staff failed to administer him the anti-rabies vaccine on time.

According to The National Institute of Health, which is mainly responsible for collecting data on rabies cases and the amount of vaccine required, gave an estimated number.

There are around 2.5 million stray dogs in the country, with approximately 1.5 lakh dog bites annually, and 8 lakh doses of anti-rabies vaccine are required annually. With these stats, Pakistan is faced with a looming threat of rabies – the source of which is the saliva of an unvaccinated stray dog.

Rabies and its vaccine

Rabies is a preventable viral disease most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal. The disease infects domestic and wild animals and is spread to people through close contact with infected saliva via bites or scratches.

In Rabies, the patient can’t swallow anything. The victim tries to drink water but can’t swallow anything and dies thirsty. The trauma the victim and their family members go through is quite devastating.

It is a common myth that the only treatment for rabies is 14 injections in the abdominal area. This old way of treating rabies was developed in 1911 and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended discontinuing these injections in 1984.

It took around 31 years for Pakistan to discontinue the 14-injection treatment and in 2015 Pakistan imported anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) and rabies immunoglobulin (RIG) to treat rabies.

These vaccines are made in India, the Philippines, European countries, and China. The ones that were made in Philippine and China have been withdrawn because they were not very effective. India is the only country exporting affordable rabies vaccines because the other European vaccines are fairly expensive.

The government’s role

The current situation reveals that the Sindh government has failed to provide the vaccine to healthcare facilities even in urban hospitals. Authorities have only excuse about the lack of funds, which has resulted in a shortage of ARVs.

A few days earlier, PTI MNA Alamgir Khan announced that he will protest outside the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation office with 100 stray dogs, which his FixIt campaign workers have caught.

“We have complained to the KMC twice or thrice, but they aren’t taking any action,” Khan said, adding, “We are not really going to release those dogs and let them bite people. We are going to tie these dogs outside the [KMC] office.”

The Sindh government last conducted a vaccination drive in Karachi in November 2019. It was in collaboration with the Ayesha Chundrigar Foundation. Local Government Secretary Roshan Sheikh had said at the time that the drive aimed to vaccinate 500,000 dogs and then neuter them as the next step.

In January 2020, the government announced that it would be spending around Rs1 billion on vaccinations. The National Institute of Health, Islamabad, which is the only official supplier of ASV and ARV vaccine throughout the country, is overburdened and cannot meet the demands.