Even those serving society to eradicate the lethal disease of polio are not safe from the rising menace of dog bites. A police personnel deputed to safeguard polio workers was injured in a dog attack in the Quaidabad area of Karachi on Saturday.
Aftab Gohar, in-charge of the Dog Bite Clinic at Indus Hospital, stated that the victim is 21 years old and sustained “Grade 2” wounds in the attack. The policeman has since been administered the anti-rabies vaccine (ARV). The clinic in-charge noted a troubling trend, stating: “Whenever a polio campaign is launched, we see polio volunteers reporting to our facility after falling victim to dog bites.”
He further mentioned that a female polio worker was also bitten in October last year.
This follows a previous incident in Korangi where another female worker was wounded. In total, two to three polio workers have recently faced similar attacks.
It is pertinent to mention that Karachi has reported as many as 4,000 dog bite cases in just one month. So far this year, two people have lost their lives due to such incidents.
Earlier in the previous year, stray dogs attacked and injured two children on the premises of Karachi University.
Stray dogs severely injured a five-year-old boy by mauling his face, while a young girl named Hoorain was bitten on the foot and wounded. The incident took place this morning near the clinic located within the Karachi University premises.
The medical officer has written a letter to the university administration, stating that the five-year-old boy was attacked by dogs, resulting in facial injuries. The medical officer further reported that Hoorain was also injured after being bitten by a stray dog, and urged the university administration to take action against stray dogs on campus.