To get treated, choose your day for an animal bite

At the Guru Gobind Singh Hospital in New Delhi, patients have to wait for the right day and time to get a treatment for an animal bite.

The hospital West Delhi has a note asking people to not visit the Emergency ward, for an animal bite, between Mondays and Saturdays between 9 AM and 12 noon. On these six days, the patients have to queue up in the OPD (Out Patient Duty) to get an anti-rabies shot.

As per the National Centre for Disease Control guidelines- “In rabies endemic country like India, where every animal bite is potentially suspected as a rabid animal bite the treatment should be started immediately.This must be started at the earliest to ensure that the individual will be immunized before the rabies virus reaches the nervous system.”

“If a dog bites you at 6 am, you can bring the person to the Emergency any day,” says a hospital staff. “But if you bring the patient post 8.30am, which is when our OPD starts, then you will have to get an OPD card made and wait in the queue for your turn, like everyone else or come in post 2 PM to get a shot in the Emergency facility,” …read more