Mumbai: Rabies-infected stray dog bites 16 people in Vashi

To add to the victims’ troubles, the civic hospital in Vashi, which administered anti-rabies vaccine to them, ran out of haemoglobin shots, after which ten patients had to go to KEM hospital in Parel.

A rabies-infected stray dog bit 16 people, including 10 children, at Juhugaon in sector 11 of Vashi on Saturday morning.

An-illustration-of-a-stray-dog-HT-illustrator

To add to the victims’ troubles, the civic hospital in Vashi, which administered anti-rabies vaccine to them, ran out of haemoglobin shots, after which ten patients had to go to KEM hospital in Parel.

Five men, a woman, four girls and six boys were bitten by the dog around 11am.

While 14 people have been discharged after treatment, Milka Kamble, eight, and Omkar Jadhav, eleven, are undergoing treatment at the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) hospital, said hospital superintendent Dr Prashant Javade. Their condition is stable.

“While we had adequate stock of anti-rabies vaccine, there were only six doses of haemoglobin shots, which are required to boost patients’ immunity. Hence, we had to ask ten people to go to KEM hospital,” said Dr Deepak Paropkari, NMMC medical officer, health.

The patients’ kin complained they had a tough time at the hospital. “There was a delay in receiving treatment, as we had to wait for the case papers to be readied, because of some problem in the outpatient department of the hospital,” said the father of one of the children. “We also had to spend Rs2,600 for the haemoglobin shot at KEM, which would have been cheaper at the NMMC hospital,” he added.

The stray was caught by NMMC’s dog squad and put down. Paropkari said the step had to be taken as the animal was infected with rabies and could prove dangerous.