TEAM HERALD
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PANJIM: Goa Assembly reverberated with concern over increasing dog bite cases in the State with 14,263 such case reported last year, with the Health Minister Laxmikant Parsekar revealing that the state spends nearly Rs 1.26 crore on making available injections and treatment for dog bite cases per year.
Parsekar was replying to a Zero Hour question raised by Calangute MLA Michael Lobo Friday.
While Lobo pointed to the canine menace in Calangute constituency and the most recent incidents of dog bites reported Thursday, the health minister said, “This is a problem not only in Calangute but all over Goa.”
He attributed the problem to the growing menace of stray dogs and stated wryly, “Even barking dogs have started biting.” Parsekar told the House that the health ministry was providing five cycle anti-rabies injections and other injection namely immunoglobulin for treatment of very severe bites costing from Rs 250 to Rs 20,000 depending on the nature of cases. He explained further that the patients have to take the injections on the first, third, seventh, 14th and 28th day.
In Thursday’s case where four people were bitten by a canine in Calangute, only one had to be admitted due to the severity of the bite. The Calangute MLA reiterated the need for permanent solutions to the problem of stray dogs, particularly in Calangute being a tourist spot, to which the chief minister said that a budget provision of Rs 2 crore has been made. “This would be allocated to NGOs for tackling the problem of stray dogs,” said Parrikar. The Leader of the Opposition in the House, Pratapsing Rane, suggested that the Veterinary Services should be roped in and steps be initiated to sterilise the stray dogs.
Under the Goa Panchayati Raj Act the panchayats have a provision for imposing dog tax for registration of dogs, but hardly any panchayat levies or collects this tax, which could be one measure of keeping tab on dog population.
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