Andhra Pradesh has reported as many as 27 deaths due to rabies in the last one-and-a-half years, according to the State’s Health Department.
However, replying to a question posed in the Lok Sabha on the fatalities caused due to rabies in the country in 2022, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Satya Pal Singh Baghel said that 269 deaths had been reported in the country, and 29 of them were in Andhra Pradesh.
Officials of the State Health and Family Welfare Department maintained that it was only 15 deaths in 2022, and that the relevant data had been uploaded in the Integrated Health Information Portal.
Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) Joint Director D. Mohana Krishna said that the State had reported 12 deaths due to rabies so far in 2023.
Despite several measures initiated by the municipal and panchayat officials across the State, many people continue to fall a prey to the stray dogs.
In the first five months of 2023, the State had reported 1,48,446 dog bite cases. In 2022, it was 2,73,728.
So far in 2023, Kakinada district had reported 20,774 dog bite cases, while Kurnool reported 14,910 cases and Eluru 10,328 cases. All other districts reported fewer than 10,000 cases.
Nandyal, Parvathipuram-Manyam, Krishna, Prakasam, Alluri Sitharama Raju and Annamayya districts reported fewer than 3,000 cases each.
Between 2013 and 2022, the State had reported 33,82,722 dog bite cases.
Health Commissioner J. Nivas said there was no dearth of Anti Rabies Vaccine (ARV) and Anti Rabies Serum (ARS), and that the State was prepared to provide treatment for the victims.
As of July 22, the State had over 3.62 lakh doses of ARV and 35,966 doses ARS, and of them, 2.31 lakh doses of ARV and 17,791 doses of ARS were available in the tertiary hospitals, district hospitals, area hospitals, community health centres, and primary health centres.
Urban areas more prone
Health officials say that most of the dog bite cases were reported in the urban areas. The respective urban local bodies were responsible for controlling the menace, which remained a concern despite implementation of many programmes to control the population of stray dogs.
The Central government had in 2021 launched the National Action Plan For Dog Mediated Rabies Elimination (NAPRE) from India by 2030, to mitigate the prevalence of rabies.
