Toddler dies in Surat hospital three days after being bitten by stray dogs

The girl was admitted to the surgery ward, where she was treated by the doctors and later on, she was shifted to the paediatric ward. On Thursday early morning, the child died at the hospital.

New Civil Hospital Resident Medical Officer Dr Ketan Naik said, “When the girl was brought in, we saw blood coming out from different parts of her body. We put in all possible efforts and carried out a surgery on the scalp which had 10 cm by eight cm wounds. We also gave her antibiotics. Due to her age, the body might not have responded to the medicines and as a result, a multi-organ failure occurred probably due to a septic. We had kept her under observation and her blood pressure was being recorded but all our attempts failed.”

Talking to The Indian Express, Surat city Mayor Hemali Boghawala said, “We are taking all efforts to reduce the number of dog bite incidents in the city. We have also increased sterilisation of stray dogs from 30 dogs to 100 dogs each day and have also increased the number of cages from 60 to 200.”

Boghawala added, “We have given a contract to a private agency for the sterilisation of dogs and till date, 13,500 stray dogs have been sterilised and there are more dogs left in the city. We have also held a meeting with the veterinary doctors of the SMC to find out the reason behind the rise in dog bite cases in the city.”

Sources in the hospital said a total of 477 cases of dog bite were recorded between February 1 and February 15 this year.