SHC orders inquiry into death of boy who was mauled by dogs

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday took notice of the death of a six-year-old boy, Hasnain, from Larkana due to dog-bite and directed the health department to conduct an inquiry and submit a report with regard to the provision of initial first-aid and medical treatment to the child by the government hospital.

Hearing a petition seeking the control of population of stray dogs and availability of free anti-rabies vaccine, a division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar asked a health department official why the child was not provided initial medical treatment and anti-rabies vaccine at the government hospital in Larkana.

The high court directed the Sindh government and local bodies authorities to continue action against stray dogs in the province. The bench took exception to the fact that no task force was constituted in this regard and directed the local government secretary to constitute a task force and start working to control the stray dogs’ population in the province.

The local bodies secretary submitted that the department had forwarded the PC-I for a project to fight against rabies and control the population of stray dogs in Sindh at a cost of Rs1074 million to the planning and development board chairperson for approval.

The high court observed that the government should expedite the process to resolve the issue. It directed the provincial government to submit a report with regard to approval of the project against rabies and stray dogs within three weeks.

The SHC directed all concerned members of the task force to make sincere efforts in larger public interest to solve the issue as dog-bite cases had become very common and the relevant authorities were responsible to control such incidents within their territorial limits.

The high court also directed the local government department to set up a complaint cell and provide helpline service to redress the grievances of citizens in dog-bite cases. The bench observed that appropriate action would be taken against the officials concerned if the court directives were not complied with.

The SHC was informed that the government and local bodies authorities had so far killed and dumped as many as 34,705 stray dogs in the province including 2,298 in Karachi, 19,947 in Hyderabad, 3,275 in Sukkur, 7,296 in Mirpurkhas, 1,172 in Shaheed Benazirabad and 717 in Larkana.

Cantonment boards’ representatives also submitted their replies mentioning that they had already established dog control cells and they were making all possible efforts in the larger public interest against the stray dogs to control the dog bite incidents in their respective territorial jurisdictions. The high court directed the cantonment boards and District Municipal Corporations to continue their campaign against stray dogs and submit compliance reports.

Petitioner Advocate M Tariq Mansoor had submitted in the petition that Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho had given a statement before the provincial assembly that more than 92,000 dog-bite cases had been reported across Sindh during the year that ended on June 30 and there was a shortage of anti-rabies vaccines due to the ongoing tension with India and closure of operations of Chinese companies.

He had submitted that dog-bite incidents had been worsening day by day due to the failure of the provincial and local administration to cope with the situation as on the one hand, the population of stray dogs had not been controlled and on the other hand, anti-rabies vaccine was not available at the government-run hospitals.

The high court was requested by the petitioner to direct the provincial and local governments to take necessary steps for vaccination, detention and control of the population of stray dogs as per international standards and ensure the availability of anti-rabies vaccines at the government-run hospitals.