Rabies should be declared notifiable disease: Delhi Assembly panel

Rabies should be declared a notifiable disease with immediate effect, a Delhi Assembly panel said in its report, and asked Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Dev to initiate requisite steps in this direction.

It also directed all civic bodies to conduct an extensive census of monkeys and stray dogs in Delhi.

The committee was formed under the chairmanship of AAP MLA Somnath Bharti to examine the issue of stray dogs and monkeys in the national capital.

"The committee recommends that a pilot project be initiated by the three corporations, DCB (Delhi Cantonment Board) and the New Delhi Municipal Council to make arrangements for dog shelters where captured stray dogs are kept and treated until completely fit," it stated.

The municipalities have also been directed to set up infrastructure facilities to register each stray dog at the shelter under their jurisdiction with iris biometric recognition.

"The system is cost-effective and better than previous painful and invasive methods of branding the animal and marking or piercing them to recognise," the panel said.

The unique iris scan would make it easier to collect data related to vaccination and record past medical history of the canines, the panel said in its report.

"The committee is of the firm belief that rabies should be declared as a notifiable disease in the human sector also as has already been declared in the animal sector, with immediate effect as it would become mandatory by law to report any and every case to the government authorities making the monitoring of the disease and ensuring its mitigation a lot easier," it also stated.

The panel directed that a comprehensive action-taken report in respect of all the recommendations made by the committee should be tabled in the House by the government during the next session of assembly.