Dog-bite cases register spike in Peshawar

12 incidents are reported in a single day

PESHAWAR:

There has been a sharp spike in the number of dog-bite incidents and in a single day 12 cases were reported to Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH).

Talking to The Express Tribune an official of KTH said that they received 12 patients in which four were children, seven adults and one elderly. Most of the cases were reported from Old Bara Road, Board Bazaar, Ring Road, Pishtakahra, and other adjoining localities.

“Most of the cases occurred in one or two kilometer radius of the hospital,” he said, adding that police and other relevant departments were informed about this development.

“These departments were requested to take precautionary steps to stop such incidents,” he said, adding that although anti-rabies vaccine was available in sufficient quantity at the hospital prevention was still better.

Read More: 979 people treated for dog bite injuries

“All the patients were treated and they were administered anti-rabies vaccines and discharged,” he said, adding that the dog bites were really deep in all the 12 cases.

Around 40,000 cases of dog bites are reported each year in the province.

In Peshawar district alone around 633 people approached District Health Department for anti-rabies vaccine in the month of June alone.

“Apart from KTH, people injured in dog bites are being admitted to Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) too,” said the official, adding that it was high time for the district administration to take action and start culling stray dogs in the city and the province.

The situation is especially alarming in the far-flung districts where recently there were reports that rabies vaccines were not available altogether, prompting a public outcry.

“Whenever the culling of stray dogs is started it results in widespread criticism from the animal rights activists. On the other hand the number of stray dogs has been on the rise across the province and there is no policy to deal with them.

In the past there were regular annual culling programs in the province which have been abandoned in the past two decades,” said another official, adding that there is no proper planning in any government department to handle the menace.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2021.