• 14 cases of deadly infectious disease reported from JPMC, nine from Indus Hospital
• Official calls for equipping health facilities with life-saving medicines and controlling dog population
KARACHI: A 12-year-old boy who developed rabies despite receiving multiple vaccine shots at a government hospital in Jacobabad died at the Indus Hospital on Wednesday afternoon, raising the death toll to 25 this year in Sindh.
According to the hospital staff, the victim had already developed full-blown rabies by the time he was brought to the hospital on Tuesday morning.
The victim had received multiple dog-bite injuries in his village in Balochistan over two months ago and was initially treated at a Sindh government taluka hospital in Garhi Khairo, part of Jacobabad district. Family members said the boy received multiple “vaccine” shots in October at the Garhi Khairo hospital.
So far this year, at least 25 patients, most of them children, have died of rabies at Karachi’s tertiary care hospitals. A significant number of these patients hailed from the interior parts of Sindh who were forced to travel to Karachi after failing to get the treatment in their area of residence of nearby district.
Officials said that 14 rabies cases reported from the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), nine from the Indus Hospital and one each from the National Institute of Child Health and Nawabshah Civil Hospital.
They said nine of the deceased hailed from Qambar, Mirpur Mathelo, Ghotki, Dadu, Badin, Larkana, Jacobabad and Sukkur.
The severity of the situation can be gauged from the 42,000 dog-bite cases which have been reported at the city’s three tertiary care facilities — JPMC, Civil Hospital Karachi and Indus Hospital, alone.
Indus Hospital official Aftab Gohar told Dawn the hospital has seen three deaths from rabies this month, raising this year’s tally to nine, with the latest mortality.
“At least two deaths have also been reported at other hospitals, per the information we have received from our colleagues at the National Institute of Child Health, Karachi, and Nawabshah Civil Hospital,” he said.
Mr Gohar, who is manager of the Rabies Prevention and Training Centre, underscored the need for having complete post-exposure prophylaxis for animal bites to save lives.
An analysis of the patients’ data, he pointed out, indicated the dire need existing to create public awareness and, at the same time, equipping health facilities with life-saving skills and medicines, and controlling dog population.
“Four of the nine patients didn’t bother to report at any hospital while the five victims who did to go to hospitals couldn’t receive the right treatment,” he explained, highlighting the challenges being faced in the fight against rabies.
“Life-saving medicines should at least be available at all district hospitals where healthcare providers needed training in providing treatment. Health authorities should know that multiple vaccine shots cannot save life of a patient with serious bite injuries. Such patients need administration of RIG,” he said.
Regarding the 12-year-old boy died on Wednesday, Mr Gohar said: “The patient’s history showed that neither were the injuries properly washed at the health facility where he first reported nor did he receive rabies immunoglobulin (RIG) — a life-saving medicine that is critical and must be administered along with the vaccine in all serious dog-bite injuries.”
“Each wound was deep, carrying a high risk for rabies. There is also a question mark over the vaccine’s quality. The family had no document to prove that the vaccine was actually administered,” he added.
According to experts, rabies is a completely preventable disease; however, it is almost invariably fatal once clinical symptoms develop, underscoring the critical importance of timely and complete post-exposure prophylaxis following animal bites.
Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2025
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