KMC writes to hospitals over sterilisation, vaccination of campus dogs

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has started sending letters to all the state government hospitals in the city intending to conduct sterilisation and vaccination of dogs at their premises to keep their birth in check and prevent rabies. The decision comes in the wake of 16 puppies being beaten to death on the campus of NRS Hospital.

"If the hospital authorities provide us with a space then we can organise camps inside the campus and conduct necessary sterilisation and anti-rabies vaccination programmes. Otherwise, we will pick up dogs from hospital premises, take them to our dog pounds and after necessary action drop them back at the same place within seven to 10 days," said Deputy Mayor Atin Ghosh, who is also in charge of the KMC's Health department.

According to Ghosh, all the hospitals across the state attract dogs from nearby areas because of the unused food that is being dumped inside the vats at the hospitals' premises.

"There have been proposals from several hospitals to make their campuses free from dogs. But it is impossible as the law clearly states that we can only sterilise or register anti-rabies vaccines and drop the animals back," a senior official of the KMC's Health department said. Ghosh also lashed out at the Centre for not funding animal birth control programmes anymore. "Both the Centre and the state are supposed to allocate funds in a 50:50 ratio for the programme. But we are yet to receive around Rs 28 lakh from the Centre. The state Animal Husbandry department allocated Rs 80 lakh last year for the programme with which we had organised our camps," Ghosh said. He added that the state government has already agreed to provide more funds under this programme after we submit the utilisation certificate. "We will soon do the same and vaccination and sterilisation camps will start from March," he maintained.