Maharshi Valmiki Infectious Diseases (MVID) Hospital, the city’s only dedicated infectious disease facility under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, reported six deaths in 2022, two in 2023, and ten in 2024, all at its Kingsway Camp centre. These figures stand in stark contrast to a Lok Sabha reply given earlier this year by Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying SP Singh Baghel, which claimed “zero human rabies deaths” in Delhi during the period, despite acknowledging a rise in animal bite cases—6,691 in 2022, 17,874 in 2023, and 25,210 in 2024.

The discrepancy has raised concerns about gaps in health surveillance and inconsistent reporting of rabies cases, a disease that is almost always fatal once symptoms appear but fully preventable with timely vaccination.

Under the National Rabies Control Programme, states are required to upload monthly data on dog bites and rabies fatalities to the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme portal. The National Action Plan for Dog-Mediated Rabies Elimination by 2030, launched jointly by the Health Ministry and the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying in 2021, divides responsibilities between the National Centre for Disease Control for human health and the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying for animal health.

The plan emphasizes mass dog vaccination and sterilization, continuous availability of anti-rabies vaccines, and rabies immunoglobulin at government hospitals, supplied free under the National Free Drug Initiative. Health experts stress the need for accurate reporting to strengthen preventive strategies and achieve rabies elimination by 2030.

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