The Punjab health department has formed a state-level committee to formulate a policy to quantify the dog bites and compensation thereof. The policy is being formulated following the order of the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) last year, announcing ₹10,000 as compensation for each tooth mark and ₹20,000 for every 0.2 cm of wound wherein flesh is torn off.
The panel will formulate a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the doctors on whose diagnosis the compensation will be fixed. The committee will have a forensic expert, a community medicine expert, a physician, a paediatrician, a law officer and two officers of the National Rabies Control Programme. The law officer of the state health department has also been included in the committee for more clarity on the interpretation of the court order.
Confirming the development, Dr Hatinder Kaur, director, family and health services, said, “We have just started working on policy formulation. It is in a very nascent stage as only one meeting has been held so far.”
The health department’s data reveals that over 2 lakh dog bite cases were reported across the government health institutes in the state last year. According to officials, the number of dog bite cases this year may surpass the last year’s count.
“The SOP will focus on reporting of dog bite cases keeping in mind the HC orders. Until now, we categorise dog bites into three broad categories depending on severity. There are no parameters defined as of now to assess the severity of dog bites. But now doctors have to count tooth marks and also exact wound size,” said one of the members of the committee, wishing not to be named.
{{/usCountry}}“The SOP will focus on reporting of dog bite cases keeping in mind the HC orders. Until now, we categorise dog bites into three broad categories depending on severity. There are no parameters defined as of now to assess the severity of dog bites. But now doctors have to count tooth marks and also exact wound size,” said one of the members of the committee, wishing not to be named.
{{/usCountry}}It has been learnt that the committee, to be familiar with the process of quantifying the bite, has to study the policy of Kerala where dog bite victims are being already awarded compensation. “There are a lot of grey areas in the court order. Dog bite cases are multi-dimensional which court seemingly didn’t take cognisance of. Besides, the court did not define a time window for considering dog bite cases as marks and wound size change after three days of such incidents,” said another member, who too requested anonymity.
The dog bite cases till March this year were 39, 313 whereas the cases last year were 2.02 lakh. In 2022, the state witnessed 1.65 lakh dog bite incidents.