Last year alone, over 30,000 deaths were reported across the country, due to dog bites. And this tragic statistic has bothered Mourya Boda, MD of Brilliant Bio Pharma Private Limited (BBPPL). Keeping up with their tradition of 10 years, this year too, on the occasion of World Zoonosis Day the company was responsible for the vaccination of 4,000 stray and domestic dogs across Hyderabad.
World Zoonosis Day is observed on July 6 to spread awareness about zoonosis, the diseases spread by dogs to humans. “We distributed the vaccines at four veterinary hospitals across the city and for the first time, tied up with GHMC to give vaccines to stray dogs. We had dog catchers going around the city and administering rabies vaccines (booster dose, which needs to be given yearly) to stray dogs,” says Mourya.
Every year the company tries to bring more focus into their activities and this year, the addition was spreading awareness amongst the children. “We went to various schools and spoke to the students about zoonosis,” says Mourya. Talking about the importance of these vaccination drives, Mourya adds, “There are so many deaths happening in our country because of rabies. It would be so much safer if people living in a society knew that even stray dogs in the area were vaccinated. We carry out this drive across the country, with Hyderabad being in focus.”
The '450-vaccine was administered to dogs for free. This was a booster dose, which means it needs to be administered yearly. And this is also where companies and the governments need to work together. “It’s really difficult to keep a track of the dogs that we have already vaccinated. Since this is the first time we gave vaccines to stray dogs, we realised that, as there is no mechanism in place to keep a check on the strays — say a collar or any sort of a tag — tracking a dog becomes difficult for us,” she says. Well, that’s where the GHMC must come in.
