Anantnag: In the week gone by, more than 15 people have been bitten by dogs inside south Kashmir’s only Maternity and Child Care Hospital (MCCH), here in Sherbagh area of Anantnag.

The MCCH is a busy hospital, with people from across south Kashmir and even the Pir Panchal region frequenting the institute day in and day out. The daily footfall at the hospital runs into thousands.

Now dogs, too, have free access to the hospital.

“While earlier the dogs only roamed around the hospital premises, feasting on the filthy surroundings, they have now started to attack people inside the hospital,” a source in the hospital said.

He said that more than 15 cases of dog bites have taken place in the last less than a week, creating fear among the patients as well as their attendants at the hospital.

“The hospital authorities have been lax in getting a broken wall fixed at the back of the hospital. The waste generated in the hospital is also being dumped near the wall,” the source said, adding that the waste attracts the dogs and the broken wall allows them to gain entry into the hospital.

“The wall was damaged in the floods of 2014 and is yet to be mended,” the source at the hospital said.

Attendants that Kashmir Reader talked to said they were petrified by the situation and feared that the dogs might even enter the wards where they could hurt the patients, especially the newborn children.

“The administration that has not been able to fix a broken wall cannot be trusted with anything. What if the dogs enter the wards and create havoc? My wife has delivered a baby and I am scared for their safety,” a patient from Kokernag area of Anantnag district told Kashmir Reader.

He said he had seen at least four persons being bitten by dogs inside the hospital premises in the last two-three days he has been at the hospital.

“Everyone around here is terrified. The administration should take some steps as soon as possible before any newborn or pregnant lady is harmed,” people in the hospital that Kashmir Reader talked to said.

Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Mirji Andrabi, acknowledged that more than a dozen people had been bitten by dogs in the past week.

Dr Andrabi said that tenders have already been floated for the wall to be re-constructed. “We have been told that the work on the wall will be started soon after the weather permits. We hope it is mended soon and the menace is taken care of,” he said.

He said the wall was not damaged in the floods of 2014 but only last year.

Suhail A Shah