BHUBANESWAR: With the stray dog population on the rise, Odisha is witnessing a significant uptick in dog bite cases. In fact, it is among the top 10 states in the country that saw the majority of dog bite cases last year.
Answering a query on ‘the menace of dog bites’ in Lok Sabha last week, Minister of State of Health and Family Welfare Satyapal Singh Baghel informed that Odisha saw 64,642 dog bite cases in the year 2022 while it was 59,085 in 2021. Last year, Maharashtra saw highest 3,90,878 dog bites followed by Uttar Pradesh (1.91 lakh), Andhra Pradesh (1.89 lakh), Gujarat (1.69 lakh), Karnataka (1.63 lakh), Bihar (1.41 lakh), Telangana (92,613), Rajasthan (87,401), Madhya Pradesh (65,833) and Odisha.
The data has been derived from the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme(IDSP) implemented by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Hospitals feed the data to IDSP as per the declaration of the patient. However, sources said, the number of dog bites would be much higher as private hospitals and practitioners who also treat a large number of patients often do not report them.
While the Livestock Census of 2019 pointed out that Odisha has the second highest number of stray dogs (17 lakh), the failure of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme is being attributed as one of the primary reasons behind the rise in dog bites. The dog sterilisation drive has been on hold in the state since July 6 following an Orissa High Court directive over a PIL alleging violation of ABC norms in Bhubaneswar.
The Fisheries and Animal Resources Development (FARD) department runs the ABC programme in 12 urban areas - Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri, Sambalpur, Angul, Jagatsinghpur, Baripada, Berhampur, Balasore, Bhawanipatna, Rourkela and Jajpur. The FARD report stated that 2,150 stray dogs were sterilised in 2021-22 whereas the number was 1,024 the year before at the ABC centre in Bhubaneswar. And in the other centres, the number was just 463 in Cuttack, 152 in Sambalpur, 152 in Rourkela, 231 in Baripada and 856 in Puri.
People for Animals secretary Jeevan Ballav Das said the dog population in Cuttack (around 45,000) is way more than Bhubaneswar (nearly 30,000). Professor in the PG Department of Medicine at SCB Medical College in Cuttack Jayanta Kumar Panda said the hospital on Monday received 25 new cases. On average, 25 to 40 new dog bite cases per day are reported in May, June and July, he said adding the breeding season (October, November and December) is when dogs are the most aggressive.