The Sindh Assembly was told on Tuesday that local government agencies had to urgently take action to get rid of stray dogs in urban areas of the province as the menace had become so serious that the provincial health authorities alone could not deal with the massive number of dog-bites being reported all over the province.
Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho expressed these views as the house unanimously adopted a resolution of an opposition lawmaker calling for the availability of anti-rabies vacancies at all emergency health centres and hospitals of the province. The resolution was moved by an opposition legislator of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Dr Seema Zia.
Speaking on the resolution, the health minister informed the concerned lawmakers that in one year alone 92,159 cases of dog-bites had been reported from all over the province till June 30, 2019.
She said that given such a massive number of dog- bite cases, the health department with all of its resources and capacity could not tackle this problem. She said the problem had clearly become a menace and its solution lied with the local government department and not with the health authorities.
The health minister said the population of dogs had to be reduced in order to curb the number of bog-bite cases in the province. She said the problem of stray dogs had become seriously menacing in the urban centres of the province as compared to the rural areas as the residential areas there were much congested as humans came in contact with stray dogs on a frequent basis.
She said the term stray dogs had become quite irrelevant in the present situation as they dogs in urban areas were found roaming freely in hordes posing a serious threat to the human population.
She said stray dogs roamed around in close vicinity of urban areas after ganging up and the local government authorities should get rid of them. She said that some 6,029 vials of anti-rabies vaccine were available all over the province for treating dog-bite cases, but vaccination alone could not provide solution to this problem as this could be done by reducing the population of dogs.
The health minister said the suggestion that the local government department should initiate steps to get rid of the stray dog population could antagonise the animal rights’ groups, but there was no other option left to solve this problem. She also assured the house that anti-snake venom serum was also available at the rural health centres, basic health units, and other hospitals of Thararkar, Thatta, and other areas of Sindh where snake-bite cases had increased after monsoon rains.
Speaking on her resolution, PTI legislator Dr Seema Zia said the menace of the stray dogs had become so alarming in Sindh that the provincial government with its maximum budgetary allocation for the procurement of anti-rabies vaccine could not tackle this issue.
She cited the example of a project being undertaken by the Indus Hospital Karachi under which stray dogs were being caught and neutered.
She said that a more humane approach could be adopted in order to tackle the problem by initiating attempts to domesticate stray dogs instead of just killing them to get rid of the issue.
She said that all stray dogs were not in the habit of attacking humans in their immediate surroundings as the hostile treatment they received, including throwing of stones, make them bite people.
Dr Imran Ali Shah, another lawmaker of PTI, said that a few days back he had visited the Civil Hospital Karachi and he had counted 29 stray dogs just present outside the entrance to the emergency section of the hospital.
He said the problem had become so much alarming that it required culling stray dogs to get rid of the menace.
He said minor children were seriously prone to this issue as they received attacks on their faces by stray dogs. PTI MPA Khurrum Sher Zaman said anti-rabies vaccine was available only at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and Civil Hospital Karachi.
He said every ward in each of the union committee of Karachi had a population of 80 to 100 stray dogs. PTI lawmaker Muhammad Ali Aziz put the total population of stray dogs in Karachi at 250,000.