HYDERABAD: The Sindh health department has suspended four doctors, a dispenser, a lady health visitor and a midwife following investigations into five rabies deaths recorded over the past three weeks despite the victims having reported to anti-rabies treatment facilities.
The victims included adults and young children from Hyderabad, Tando Allahyar, Sanghar, Kotri and Tando Mohammad Khan. Authorities said investigations identified shortcomings in the treatment of some patients, including failures to properly examine dog-bite wounds or administer rabies immunoglobulin alongside the anti-rabies vaccine where required.
Explanation notices have also been issued to the heads of seven hospitals and health facilities, including Liaquat University Hospital in Hyderabad and Tando Allahyar District Hospital. Sindh Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah ordered closer monitoring of individual dog-bite cases and said administrative failures would be reflected in officials’ performance evaluations.
Officials said Sindh currently has 278 anti-rabies units operating under WHO protocols, including 112 round-the-clock referral centres. Around 45,000 dog-bite patients were treated during the first eight months of the year, with approximately 138,000 vaccine doses and 5,000 doses of rabies immunoglobulin administered.