Shillong, Sep 26: As many as 27 people died of rabies in Meghalaya in 2003 and 2024.
While 11 persons died in 2023, 16 died in 2024 til September this year.
One more case is under examination for confirmation.
In the 16 cases, 6 are male, 10 are female and only one person was vaccinated but has not completed the course. Among those who died three are below 15 years.
On September 16, 32- year-old Mid Level Health Provider identified as Gracetyfull Marngar from West Khasi Hills died after she was bitten by stray puppies two months ago.
She was under tetanus treatment but succumbed to rabies.
Marngar was the staff nurse of Tynghor Sub Centre in the district .
Following the case and to reply to other health issues, in her maiden Q&A session, Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh led a delegation of health officials to answer to the queries of the journalists.
In reply to the queries on rabies, the state government has decided to come up with an action plan to address the issue and to ensure anti-rabies vaccination are made available upto the primary health care (PHC) level.
“27 deaths from last year upto September 2024 is a number which is very alarming. Awareness on rabies has become a big priority and hence before the situation deteriorates, we are already planning an approach and this approach is what we hope will happen henceforth,” Ampareen said.
She said on Friday, during the culmination of the week long anti-rabies programme, the animal husbandry & veterinary minister and the health minister will be together at the same platform to receive information on the proposed plans to curb the rampant spread of rabies in the state.
Referring to the tricky issue, the health minister said, “There are also protectors of stray dogs. Until all concerned stakeholders come under the same platform, it is going to be next to impossible to handle this. We hope that after this rabies awareness week, we will be able to strategically attend to this big problem and it is also not true that we are waiting for deaths to increase.”
Stating that anti-rabies vaccination is the responsibility of every citizen, the minister said, “There is also a talk that rabies vaccination are unavailable but hence now we are committing that we will ensure that upto the PHC level, there should be rabies vaccination available so that citizens can avail this facility to prevent that. We are hoping that this will happen soon and we hope that we will be able to address it.”
State Surveillance Officer of Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) and Nodal Officer for Rabies Dr Valarie Laloo said the districts with the highest number of rabies deaths were West Khasi Hills and West Jaintia Hills. Both districts have reported 6 cases of rabies deaths each.
She said 96 per cent of the rabies deaths were due to dog bites.
