Rabies should be declared notifiable disease: Panel

NEW DELHI: Municipal bodies in Delhi must carry out a “comprehensive survey of the dog and monkey population” in the city and stock sufficient anti-rabies vaccines (ARV) to tackle bite cases, a House Committee of the Delhi Government has recommended in its report tabled on Monday.

It says that the civic bodies must “move out stray dogs and monkeys, which endanger human lives, immediately to forested areas” and “parks must be gated and boundary walled so that strays don’t enter them.”

The committee was formed under the chairmanship of AAP MLA Somnath Bharti to examine the issue of stray dogs and monkeys in the national capital.

“The committee recommends that a pilot project be initiated by the three corporations, DCB (Delhi Cantonment Board) and the New Delhi Municipal Council to make arrangements for dog shelters where captured stray dogs are kept and treated until completely fit,” it stated.

The municipalities have also been directed to set up infrastructure facilities to register each stray dog at the shelter under their jurisdiction with iris biometric recognition.

“The system is cost-effective and better than previous painful and invasive methods of branding the animal and marking or piercing them to recognise,” the panel said. The unique iris scan would make it easier to collect data related to vaccination and record past medical history of the canines, the panel said in its report. “...rabies should be declared as a notifiable disease,” it stated.