Bengaluru: Three-year-old Puneet (name changed) walks into a city eye hospital with his worried parents. He had been attacked on the eye by a stray dog in Indiranagar. "When the child and his parents came to me for a check up, the child had an injury at a very critical place on the eye with torn and disfigured eye-lids and torn eye lashes" says, Dr. Divya Subramanian, Oculoplasty Specialist at Vasan Eye Care Hospital in Jayanagar.
The parents were worried as they initially thought that the eye injury would heal over time with basic medication and they had only got him an anti-rabies vaccination. "Luckily they had got him an anti-rabies vaccination but sadly, they did not do much about the eyes as they were told that it would heal in due time" informs Dr. Divya. "We were very worried as Puneet's eye continued to discharge water and pus and we did not know what to do" says his father who doesn't wish to be named. After twelve days of continuous watery discharge the parents meet Dr Divya for treatment.
"Two main worries ahead of us were the disfiguration of the eyes as the lid was torn and second, the watery discharge as the tear duct in the eye was damaged. Thankfully it was not a horrific bite which could have permanently damaged his vision considering his age and could have had major implications," adds Dr. Divya who says that the city has very little awareness about the treatment available.
"There are very few doctors who can do such a surgery," adds the doctor who explains about the surgery saying, "we explained to the parents about disfiguring injuries to the eyelids and tear passage ducts and the need for surgical care without further delay as they came after twelve days. The child underwent plastic surgery and stent placement for the duct damage under anaesthesia with positive results."
"We thought he would never enjoy his childhood anymore but he is fine now," says his father. "There are very critical parts of the eye which should not be overlooked by people and even a minute scratch should be investigated." sums up Dr. Divya.
Fangs out, more cases in the city
Three-year-old Puneet's case is not an isolated incident. Recently, a couple was bitten by a stray dog in Indira Nagar and had to be rushed to a hospital in that area. The BBMP has reported some 11171 dog bite cases by stray dogs within its limits this year and some 18721 dog bite cases of pet dog bites.
Dr. Shivarama Bhat, Joint Director (Animal Husbandry) of BBMP, says that despite trying to tackle the menace, they are falling short in aggressively tackling the issue. The BBMP has allotted tenders to five NGO’s including, Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA), Animal Rights Fund (ARF), Sarvodaya Sevabhavi Samstha, Vets for Animals and Richa Agharwal Foundation to handle the issue.
"As per Animal Birth Control (ABC) Dog Rules 2001, we are catching, deworming and leaving these dogs at the places of their origin but such cases keep coming up. We have vaccinated 53661 dogs against rabies and 30410 have been neutered until March this year," explains Dr. Shivarama.
