- By Yashashvi Tak
- Mon, 17 Nov 2025 02:07 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
A Right to Information (RTI) response from the Union government has revealed that at least 18 people have died of rabies in Delhi over the past three years, contradicting the government’s earlier statement in Parliament that the capital recorded zero human rabies deaths between 2022 and 2024.
Data provided by the Maharshi Valmiki Infectious Diseases (MVID) Hospital, Delhi’s only dedicated infectious disease facility under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, show six deaths in 2022, two in 2023, and ten in 2024. These figures directly conflict with a written reply by Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying S.P. Singh Baghel in the Lok Sabha earlier this year, which claimed no human rabies deaths in the city from January 2022 to January 2025.
ALSO READ: ‘This Cannot Be...’: Maneka Gandhi Criticises SC Order On Stray Dogs, Calls Verdict Impractical
The minister’s statement did, however, acknowledge a sharp increase in animal bite cases, rising from 6,691 in 2022 to 25,210 in 2024, indicating a growing risk of rabies exposure despite the claim of “zero deaths.”
Parliamentary guidelines require states to upload monthly data on rabies and dog bite cases to the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) portal, which the Centre uses for national estimates. The Times of India reported that Baghel’s additional private secretary, Himanshu Sharma, said the ministry could not comment on the discrepancy “without seeking a proper response from the department.”
ALSO READ: Chennai News: Free Dog Vaccination Camps Announced; Check Dates, Locations And Key Details
Under India’s National Action Plan for Dog-Mediated Rabies Elimination by 2030, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) manages human health surveillance, while the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying oversees the animal health component. The plan emphasizes mass dog vaccination, sterilization, and the free availability of anti-rabies vaccines and immunoglobulin at government hospitals, measures considered critical to achieving the 2030 elimination target.