The Sindh health department has suspended seven staff members and issued explanation notices to seven hospital heads following the deaths of five people, including minors, from rabies within the last three weeks, despite the victims having reported to anti-rabies vaccination (ARV) units.
Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah ordered the action after a review of dog-bite mortality cases revealed serious lapses, including missed wounds, ARV administered without accompanying rabies immunoglobulin (RIG), and failure to follow protocol.
In one case, a six-year-old boy’s head injury from a dog attack went unexamined at Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad; in another, a woman’s thigh wound near her private parts was not properly treated.
Following the deaths, officials said 278 of Sindh’s ARV units now comply with WHO standards, compared to 371 previously non-compliant centers.
A digital dashboard has been introduced to track ARV cases, vaccine stocks, and treatment schedules across the province.
Officials reported that around 45,000 dog-bite patients were treated over the past eight months, with 138,000 ARV and 5,000 RIG doses administered.
The chief secretary warned that future mismanagement in anti-rabies cases would be treated as an administrative failure affecting officers’ performance evaluations.
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