Health dept steps up anti-rabies reporting and treatment

After Karnataka declared rabies a notifiable disease in December, the Health Department has been trying to ensure government medical officers' compliance with the National Rabies Control Programme guidelines.

As per a circular issued on January 2 as well as recent operational guidelines, all district hospitals are now required to provide anti-rabies treatment. They should have an isolation bed with specified facilities like dark rooms to treat suspected cases. Whereas, earlier rabies cases were managed only at specialised facilities like Epidemic Disease Hospitals.

While all primary health centres are required to have the antirabies vaccine, the community health centres, taluk and district hospitals should have rabies immunoglobulin (RIG) for severe bites.

The January 2 circular also specifies how exactly and where medical officers should report suspected and confirmed rabies cases. Reporting is mandatory for notifiable diseases. "Many districts were reporting only suspected cases, hence the circular mandates reporting confirmed cases also," said a department official.

The official said that the department was also considering issuing a circular to make a follow-up of vaccination mandatory for health centres. "In many districts, the dog bite victim is not completing the full course of vaccination, so the idea is to make the health centres responsible for follow-up," he said.