KARACHI-Mayor Karachi Barrister Murtaza Wahab has said that dog sterilization centers had been opened in three KMC hospitals because Rabies problems can be solved by sterilizing dogs. He said this while talking to media at his participation as chief guest in the awareness walk organized jointly by KMC , Indus Hospital, Infectious Disease Society Pakistan, Dow University of Health Sciences, CDR Health Department Government of Sindh at People’s Square on the occasion of World Rabies Day on Thursday.
The Mayor Karachi said that anti-rabies injection should be done immediately instead of home remedies for dog bites. Municipal Commissioner Syed Afzal Zaidi, Mayor Karachi’s Representative for Political Affairs Karamullah Waqasi, from Indus Hospital Dr. Naseem Salahuddin, Aftab Gohar, Dr. Talat Rumi and Dr. Saqib Ali Sheikh were also present while doctors, experts, teachers with large number of students and citizens participated in the walk. Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that on the occasion of International Rabies Day, we decided to organize an awareness walk in Karachi. He said that the sensitivity of this problem felt on watching a video of a child in Hyderabad who was in a lot of pain and could not be rescued. We want such an incident not to happen to anyone else. If such an incident happens to anyone, immediately go to the nearest hospital and get vaccinated, he added.
He said that the government of Sindh was taking measures to prevent dog bites under the rabies control program. It is possible to prevent the disease caused by the rabies virus as this disease causes brain inflammation when the virus in the saliva of rabies infected dogs is transmitted to an infected person through a bite, he said. He said that studies had shown that not every dog was infected with rabies, however, it was a life-threatening disease and prompt diagnosis was essential for prompt treatment.
He said that public awareness of this disease was necessary, therefore, in the light of the experiences at the global level, the breeding of dogs must be controlled on a scientific basis, the scope of the dog bite control program will be expanded where their reproductive system is paralyzed and anti-rabies injections are administered.