Dog’s day: civic hospitals reporting 235 bites daily
UPDATED: MAY 01, 2018 00:38 IST
BMC to create veterinary health department, focus on sterilisation, vaccination
Mumbai: The city’s growing stray dog population is leading to 235 dog bites being reported every day, according to data provided by civic hospitals. In fact, there have been 1.72 lakh cases of animal bites in the past two years, most of them by dogs. This number could be higher, if data from private medical facilities are taken into account.
To tackle the menace, the BMC is planning to create a Veterinary Health department that will exclusively focus on zoonotic diseases. According to Idzes Kundan, Additional Municipal Commissioner, BMC, seven veterinary officials are being hired. “We are already in the process of conducting interviews. The department will be located at the veterinary hospital being built in Khar, where a smaller dispensary already exists.”
More cases in slums
She said cases of dog bites are higher in certain areas, mostly in slum pockets. “Officials from the Veterinary Health department will focus on sterilisation and vaccination in these areas.”
According to data collated by the BMC, four major civic hospitals — KEM, Sion, Nair and Cooper — recorded 55,179 cases. Fifteen peripheral hospitals recorded 51,984 cases and 175 dispensaries recorded 64,934 cases of dog bites between October 2015 and September 2017. Ms. Kundan said a negligible number of these may be cat bites. She added, “At present, all our veterinary doctors are concentrated in Deonar. It has become important to have a broader approach. Sterilisation is an extremely important measure for controlling the dog population, which will be focussed upon.”
Timely treatment
The 2007 census had pegged the city’s stray dog population at 75,000. Dr. Ganesh Shinde, Dean, Cooper Hospital, said untreated and inadequately treated rabid dog bites are very dangerous. “There are three aspects of dog bite treatment: wound care, vaccination and observation of the patient and the dog. We immediately inform the BMC dog squad when we get a case of rabid bog bite, so that the dog can be controlled in time.”
Lt Colonel J.C. Khanna, secretary for the Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said that when BMC staff go for sterilisation, people in the slums often hide the dogs and don’t allow them to be taken. “At times, people also try to go after a dog in the area and during that conflict, the dogs bite.” Mr. Khanna said.
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