After two residents of the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) were bitten by stray dogs, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) on Thursday deployed two teams of dog-catchers and caught three dogs.
A veterinary official from the GCC said, “Two individuals at the IMH were reported to have been bitten at the hospital on Wednesday. After the GCC was apprised of the incident, two teams of dog-catchers — ten personnel in total — caught three dogs for observation on Thursday. Two of these animals were found to be unsterilised.”
The dogs will be kept under observation for a minimum of 10 days. If any sign of aggression or illness is detected, the hospital would be notified, he added.
Hospital authorities said that the bites were not severe, and the two residents had been treated.
The problem, however, is far from over as official sources contended that the campus had been facing a stray dog menace for the past few years. There are at least 45 to 60 dogs on the campus, and many post graduate medical students are scared to make rounds to wards after 6 p.m., they added.
Dean of the Madras Medical College and the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital had taken up the issue with the GCC after students made a representation. The institute’s director had also taken up the issue. In accordance with the rules, the GCC sterilises the animals and releases them back at the IMH. “The IMH is a huge area, and catching dogs is a challenge. We are vaccinating dogs against rabies in a phased manner. Last month, nearly 30 dogs were vaccinated. This is a continuous process. The GCC has also been sterilising the dogs,” a doctor added.
When asked if any drive to sterilise the dogs was done at the hospital, the GCC official said that some of the dogs had been sterilised a few weeks earlier and were released at the same area in accordance with the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023.
‘No guidelines’
On concerns about the presence of dogs near the hospital, the GCC official said: “There are no guidelines under the ABC Rules that specify against dogs being in the vicinity of hospitals....”
A special anti-rabies vaccination and sterilisation drive has been scheduled in the locality over the weekend, he added.
“As the IMH is a hospital campus, the GCC should consider relocating the dogs,” an official source said. The GCC officials, however, said that nothing else could be done as a decision on whether the IMH should be considered a community or a hospital campus was beyond their scope. “There are stray dogs on many hospital campuses. This requires a decision by the court or legislature,” another source said.
Published - April 25, 2025 01:15 am IST
