According to the WHO and NICD study, the majority of human rabies deaths occurred in persons from low income groups. Abut 55 per cent of the 20,000 victims who died had sought hospital admission. However, the use of rabies immunoglobulin was low, with only two per cent of victims receiving treatment. While the government has done well in terms of rabies vaccine coverage, only two per cent of those who require the immunoglobulin are given it. The government needs to inform doctors, healthcare providers and the public about rabies immunoglobulin, and it needs to make the product, which is listed in some state tenders, readily available in government hospitals. As most of the victims are poor, the product requires to be made available free of cost.

The government has done a sterling job of controlling polio. It needs to do the same for rabies. After all, polio leads to morbidity, whereas rabies is fatal if untreated. And, yes, when it comes to dealing with man’s best friend, let us not forget that we live in the land of Bapu, in the land of Ahimsa.

The writer is a lawyer and Mumbai-based management consultant