KARACHI: A sharp and alarming rise in dog bite cases has been reported across major government and private hospitals in Karachi this year, raising significant public health concerns. According to data from hospital officials, at least 3,040 cases of dog bites have been formally reported in the city’s medical facilities since January.
The situation is particularly severe at Karachi’s largest public hospitals. Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) alone has recorded more than 700 cases since the start of the year. Similarly, Civil Hospital Karachi has reported approximately 1,000 cases in the same period. The data indicates a persistent and worrying trend, with hundreds of citizens, including children, requiring urgent anti-rabies treatment and wound care each month.
The crisis is not confined to public healthcare facilities. Private hospitals are also witnessing an influx of such cases. In one instance, a private hospital on Stadium Road reported 20 dog bite cases in a single day, highlighting the widespread nature of the problem across different areas of the metropolis.
This surge adds to a longstanding issue in the city. Reports from earlier this year indicated that over 40,000 dog bite cases were treated in just three major hospitals over a longer period, underscoring a chronic failure in stray dog population management and public safety measures.
Health officials attribute the increase to a growing population of stray dogs, a lack of effective sterilization and vaccination drives by civic authorities, and possibly increased human-stray animal interaction in densely populated neighborhoods. The rise in cases burdens already strained healthcare resources and exposes victims to the risk of rabies, a fatal but vaccine-preventable disease.
The situation calls for urgent and coordinated action from the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and other municipal bodies to implement comprehensive animal birth control (ABC) programs and public awareness campaigns to curb the menace and prevent a full-blown public health crisis.
