Sindh High Court orders formation of task forces to address dog-bite cases.

KARACHI -- The Sindh High Court directed the provincial government, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and district municipal corporations (DMC) on Tuesday to form task forces for dog-bite cases in the province and directed the Sindh government to provide anti-rabies vaccine ARVs in all districts of Sindh.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Agha Faisal was hearing the plea filed by advocate Tariq Mansoor against the unavailability of ARVs in the province.

The court inquired from the local government secretary why he hadn't appeared before the court at the previous hearing. The court asked why the issue wasn't being resolved when dogs were biting people.

Local Government Secretary Roshan Ali Sheikh said that this falls under the responsibilities of DMCs. He told the court that an amount of Rs20million had been set aside for the east district. Funds were given according to the demands of each district with the exception of East district which did not ask for any.

Korangi deputy commissioner told the court that his district received Rs15m while districts South and West received Rs20m.

The Central deputy commissioner informed the court that his district has asked for Rs20m and the funds haven't been received as yet while the Malir deputy commissioner said that his district asked for Rs15m which haven't been received as yet.

The court directed Sheikh and the health secretary to form district-level task forces and designate vehicles to address the issue of stray dogs.

The local government secretary maintained that these funds were being given to DMCs for the repair and maintenance of their respective vehicles.

'What were you doing till now? This amount of money is not required for the purpose as Suzuki pick-up vans could also be used for it,' remarked the bench.

Meanwhile, the health secretary told the court that ARVs were being supplied to around 313 hospitals.

'Where are the results if 16,000 vaccines are available,' asked Justice Mazhar.

The counsel representing the east district maintained that action is taken immediately as the complaint is received. 'A full-fledged operation has been carried out in Lines Area,' he added.

'You are submitting the report for August. The operation should be continuous,' remarked the bench.

'Why don't your teams patrol in the areas,' asked Justice Mazhar.

'Work was initiated from where we were receiving complaints,' said Sheikh. 'A task force has also been created and a report will be submitted soon. Sindh is the only province where a unique campaign...