KARACHI: Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) expresses its deep concern over the increasing population of stray dogs in the province of Sindh.
The Sindh Assembly was informed by the Provincial Health Minister, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho that over 200,000 dog-bite cases had been reported in the province during the first 10 months of the current year.
This Situation is very alarming. PMA has been vocal on the issue and it was our unambiguous stance to cull the stray dogs in the province because of abundance of dog bite cases and deaths of innocent people due to this threat. This is a very common observation that stray dogs roam freely in every street and every person especially, the children, are more at risk in this worst situation.
Unfortunately among all the provinces, Sindh has the highest number of stray dogs but the province has failed to come up with a unified policy for countering the stray dog population for years now, causing an exponential rise in dog bite and rabies cases. This calls for the attention of policymakers to formulate an effective stray dog population control management strategy in the province.
Sindh Government, in recent years, has many times announced to undertake a mass vaccination campaign instead of mass culling to control stray populations; however nothing has been done to till date and people are left alone to face this dreadful threat of stray dogs throughout the province.
PMA demanded the government to act promptly to protect the lives of people from stray dogs in the province.