SHC takes notice of rising dog-bite incidents in province

The Sindh High Court on Tuesday took notice of dog-bite incidents in the province, with the majority of cases being reported in Umerkot, and directed the local government secretary and the task force chairman to submit reports, stating that what efforts are being made to provide medical treatment to the victims.

Hearing a petition calling for the control of the population of stray dogs and demanding the availability of free anti-rabies vaccines, a division bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, expressed concerns about media reports with regard to dog-bite incidents and the shortage of vaccination in government hospitals.

The court was informed by the petitioner that 47 dog-bite incidents had been reported in Karachi until February 8, whereas 400 dog bite-incidents had been reported in Umerkot and there were a shortage of vaccination in government hospitals.

The court directed the local government secretary and the task force chairman to immediately inquire about the incidents and submit the report as what efforts were being made to provide medical treatment to the victims.

The court directed the health additional secretary to collect information from Umerkot with regard to the incidents. The health additional secretary submitted that 714 vaccines were available in different hospitals of Umerkot, whereas 9,891 vaccines were available in the government hospitals. The court directed the health additional secretary to submit an inventory of anti-rabies vaccines of all 29 district-based hospitals.

The court also took exception over the failure of the local government for not publicising the news of the creation of helpline service in print and electronic media to deal with stray dogs and dog-bite cases in the province.

The court observed that the helpline should be made functional and the news about it creation should be publicised for information of the public through print and electronic media so that in case of a complaint, proper steps could be taken by the task force and they could forward the complaint to the relevant district municipal corporation or the cantonment board. The court observed that the LG secretary published the advertisement in three newspapers, however, several other issues had been mentioned in the advertisement which had damaged the main purpose of the public message and its awareness to the public which was also non-compliance of the court directives.

The court observed that the LG secretary and the task force chairman were both responsible for such non-compliance as no advertisement were aired in electronic media and other newspapers with regard to information of the helpline service.

The court issued show cause notices to the secretary local government as well as the task force chairman to explain as why the helpline was not made functional for the purpose as it was ordered and why the contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against them.

The court was informed that the Sindh chief minister had approved the summary and an administration approval had been accorded for the execution of a project to fight rabies and control the population of stray dogs at a cost of Rs.963.316 million. The court directed the LG secretary to submit a road map with proper timeline for proper implementation of the project in the larger interest of public.