Sindh govt will spend Rs1bn on rabies control project

KARACHI: The provincial government of Sindh is finalising an over Rs1 billion programme that mainly focuses on vaccination of stray dogs to control their population.

According to sources, a report prepared by the Sindh local government department suggested that the authorities were waiting for the formal approval of the chief minister for the Rs1.07bn programme focuses on vaccination of stray dogs to control their population.

The report said a massive fund in the programme would be allocated from a non-ADP annual development program scheme with multiple new mechanisms of the project to make the province rabies-free.

The report further stated with the association of the livestock department like the model of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rabies control programme, the population of stray dogs control programme would be devised in Sindh province.

The district municipal corporations (DMCs) would be asked to provide a 20-member strong staff for the programme in all districts that would operate round the clock in different shifts.

Before the programme was launched, it said, the DMCs staff would be properly trained by professional institutions and experts to carry out their task across Sindh.

The number of dog-bite cases in Sindh saw a sudden rise in 2019 amid a growing population of stray dogs, a shortage of vaccines.

Although health officials believe that the entire country was running short of the anti-rabies vaccines, the situation in Sindh was quite critical as in Karachi alone more than 160 dog-bite cases are being reported in different city’s hospitals on a daily basis.

While the funding of over Rs1bn suggests that the Sindh government is finally making an attempt to tackle the crisis and make the province rabies-free.