The report looked at a period of 10 months, January to October in 2019. During this time period there were 11 deaths due to rabies and over 3000 people had been injured by stray dogs. This means that there is an average of 10 people bitten everyday by stray dogs.
A summary of this report has been shared with the Special Branch to the Chief Minister of Punjab’s office. 1732 large and small hospitals in the province lack this life saving vaccine.
Sindh government has also been criticised for the non-availability of anti-rabies vaccine in many districts of the province.
The report claims that children between the ages of 3 to 12 were the most vulnerable to attacks by stray dogs and hence also made the largest population that is affected by the lack of these lifesaving vaccines. The vaccine has to be administered 5 times after bite over a period of 28 days for it to be effective.
Multan, Gujranwala, Sahiwal and Bahawalpur are the areas where the largest number of small hospitals do not have the vaccine. Okara, Rahim Yar Khan, Rawalpindi, Kasur and Gujrat are areas where large hospitals do not have the vaccine.
Gujranwala, Lodhran and Mianwali are areas that are worst hit by dog bites and related injuries.