Dog-bite cases surpass road mishap tally : The Tribune India

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Dog-bite cases surpass road mishap tally

JALANDHAR: In a clear indication towards the rising stray dog menace in the city, the local Civil Hospital has been treating on an average 25 to 30 cases of dog bite daily and over 1,000 dog bite victims have been treated in the past few months.

Dog-bite cases surpass road mishap tally

Over 1,000 dog-bite victims have been treated in the past few months at Civil Hospital. Tribune photo



Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, June 23

In a clear indication towards the rising stray dog menace in the city, the local Civil Hospital has been treating on an average 25 to 30 cases of dog bite daily and over 1,000 dog bite victims have been treated in the past few months. Also, the dog bite cases recorded in the hospital is two times higher than the road accident cases.

As per information received from the Civil Hospital, “daily 25 to 30 patients on an average come for anti-rabies injection, who also include older patients who come for pending treatment, while 15 to 20 are new cases. Usually, three injections are given to victims on the consecutive first, third and seventh days but in cases of the dog’s death, five injections are administered.”

Despite repeated complaints and rising quantum of dog-bite cases, the MC’s Animal Birth Control Programme hitherto lies in a limbo, the statistics point is that there is a dire need to control the bustling stray population in the district at the earliest.

Sources said the cost of the injection was Rs 250 which is not affordable for many and the cases reported at the hospital were the tip of the iceberg as far as dog-bite cases in the city were concerned as a majority of the patients visited private hospitals for anti-rabies treatment.

Staff at the hospital said with many letters already written to the government and the Municipal Corporation on the issue, it was high time the district administration should take the matter seriously.

Recent incidents

Navtej Singh, a resident of Bhagat Singh Nagar, was bitten by a stray dog near a gurdwara in his area, while Abhay Seth, a teacher at a private school, was bitten by a dog near the city railway station. Also, Manmeet Kaur, a resident of Shankar Garden, sustained serious injuries when she fell from the rickshaw after being attacked by dogs. All three incidents took place recently.

Dr Gursharan Singh Bedi, president of the People for Animals (PFA), an animal welfare society in the city, said: “This is the season when dog-bite cases are most reported these days most canines give birth. Hence, people need to be more careful. But people, mostly due to lack of sympathy, try to snatch the pups away and get bitten by the protective mother,” Bedi said.

He said people need to change their mentality. They go out for walk holding long sticks in hand but never prefer to keep a packet of biscuits to feed dogs while they are on a walk. Moreover, no person finds it necessary in such a hot weather to keep a bowl of water outside their houses for dogs rather they try to hurt dogs with sticks and drive them out of their locality.

Municipal Corporation Assistant Health Officer Kishan Sharma claimed that “We are about to begin with the birth control programme for canines. The construction of the building is almost complete. The much-awaited sterilisation project to control the growing number of canines will be launched within a few days. Also, there is a need to spread awareness among residents so that they should not go near dogs and feed bread and biscuits. The government will soon initiate the programme to prevent such incidents.”

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