The dog bite cases constitute almost 98 per cent of the total cases of animal bite which are reported in the Doon hospital. The hospital has reported 5367 cases of dog bite till August 21 this year. These cases are treated by injecting serum and the vaccines which are very costly.
The hospital data reveal that apart from cases of dog bite 88 cases of cat bite, 20 cases of rat bite, seven cases of monkey bite, five cases of bear bite, two cases of leopard bite and one case each of fox, squirrel and eagle arrived in the hospital this year.
The animal bite cases are treated with the anti rabies injection and as these injections need to be kept in deep fridge this facility is available only at the Doon hospital, district hospital Rishikesh and Mussoorie hospital in the district. The increasing stray dog menace in the city is one the major cause of dog bite cases. Narrating his experience Radhyshyam Sharma a resident of Kaulagarh said that a stray dog pounced upon him when he was opening his shop.
He said that the state government should undertake a mass sterilization drive of the stray dogs of the city. Another victim of stray dog bite Nadeem a resident of Biharigarh said that the government would save lot of money it spends on the vaccines if the population of dogs is kept under check.
The chief Pharmacist KC Kukreti informed The Pioneer that the quantity of the vaccine is decided by the body mass index of the patient, for example a 10 kg child needs 1.5 ml of vaccine while a 75 kg person needs to be injected 10 ml of vaccine. The State Government spends about Rs 250-300 on the vaccination of every case of animal bite.