Over 1.5 lakh dog bites recorded in Karnataka this year

Over 1.58 lakh people in Karnataka have been bitten by dogs this year, according to the State Health Department. Another 2,677 people have been bitten by animals such as cats and monkeys that can also potentially spread rabies.

The numbers were high last year too - 2.5 lakh from animal bites overall.

When it comes to rabies deaths, nine were confirmed this year, till July, based on lab tests at Nimhans. Last year, 13 deaths were confirmed.

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The Health Department also maintains a category of ‘clinically suspected rabies deaths in hospital’. These are based on clinical assessments, without lab confirmation. This year, three such cases have been reported so far. Another six were reported to have left the hospital against medical advice. Since these cases are not followed up on, it’s unclear if they survived.

Huge underreporting

The data on dog bites and vaccinations currently with the Health Department is heavily underreported. It is most patients who approach primary health centres (PHCs) after bites. “PHCs are supposed to have a dedicated data entry operator to report daily data related to rabies and some other diseases so that no cases are missed. But many PHCs don’t have dedicated personnel,” says an official at the Health department. This means data could be underreported or not uploaded on time.

Besides, the current data almost entirely excludes the private sector. Government facilities currently upload their data on the IHIP (Integrated Health Information Platform). “Currently, 95% of reporting on IHIP is from the government sector. As per the NFHS-4 (National Family Health Survey), 64% of patients in Karnataka approach the private sector. So it’s important to get data from private facilities,” says the official.

On September 1, State Health Commissioner D Randeep issued a direction to the IMA and PHANA (Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association) to ensure that private healthcare facilities and labs enter rabies data on IHIP.

“Currently we are targeting hospitals with 30 or more beds. Among them, in the first phase, we have asked 466 hospitals - those which are bigger, more reliable and are aware of the mechanism - to enter data. District Surveillance Officers and District Health Officers have been given funds to identify and train nodal officers in each hospital who will be responsible for data entry,” says Randeep. “Over time, data entry will be extended to single clinics and labs also.”