During the past 15 days, three dog-bite victims, two from Karachi and the other one from Nawabshah, have died due to rabies.
The first victim was of a six-year-old boy, Mustafa, from Garden, Karachi, who was bitten by a dog on May 3 and died on May 21 while the second case was of a 24-year-old man, Nadeem, from Nawabshah who died on May 25, and the third one a 45-year old man, who died on June 14, in Karachi.
As per details since January 2021, seven patients of dog-bite cases have passed away in JPMC while four were reported by Indus Hospital Karachi. JPMC alone has treated 4,960 cases of dog-bites this year.
Talking about a 45-year old man who died on June 14, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) Executive Director Dr Seemin Jamali told, that patient brought to the JPMC a day before his death, was already in worse health condition, adding that the patient was bitten by the dog three months ago and passed away, since he wasn’t treated with rabies vaccine at the right time.
To a question, Executive Director JPMC said that rabies has 100 percent mortality. Among the patients brought to us, some of them were not vaccinated or had full-blown rabies.
It is pertinent to mention that Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho has already informed that it could take 10 years to control the population of stray dogs through vaccination and neutering in the province. Earlier, the Health Minister explained in the provincial assembly that the only practical solution to control stray dog bites was to cull the animals. She also said that the growing population of stray dogs might not be controlled through vaccination or sterilization.
Earlier this month, the Sindh High Court told a petitioner seeking an end to the shooting of dogs by authorities; the court said that animal right activists ought to think about human rights too. The court said that while the petitioner is working for animal welfare, they must consider human rights too.