Centre Said Delhi Saw "Zero" Rabies Deaths In 2 Years. RTI Says 18 Died

A Right to Information (RTI) response has cast doubt on the Union government's recent assertion in Parliament that Delhi reported no human deaths from rabies between 2022 and 2024.

Records from Maharshi Valmiki Infectious Diseases (MVID) Hospital, the only dedicated infectious diseases facility run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, indicate that 18 people lost their lives to rabies during this period. The hospital logged six deaths in 2022, two in 2023, and ten in 2024, all at its Kingsway Camp centre.

The figures stand in stark contrast to a written reply given in the Lok Sabha this year by Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying SP Singh Baghel. His response stated that Delhi recorded "zero human rabies deaths" between January 2022 and January 2025, even as the same reply acknowledged a year-on-year rise in reported animal bite cases: 6,691 in 2022, 17,874 in 2023 and 25,210 in 2024.

The conflicting datasets have sparked concerns about gaps in health surveillance and inconsistencies in reporting rabies cases, a disease that remains fully preventable but almost always fatal once symptoms begin.

According to the minister's parliamentary statement, states are required to upload monthly data on dog bites and rabies fatalities under the National Rabies Control Programme to the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme portal, which is intended to streamline nationwide monitoring.

Under the National Action Plan for Dog-Mediated Rabies Elimination by 2030, rolled out jointly in 2021 by the Health Ministry and the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, responsibilities are divided between two agencies. The National Centre for Disease Control handles the human health component, while the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying oversees the animal health aspect.

The plan prioritises mass vaccination and sterilisation of dogs, alongside ensuring continuous availability of anti-rabies vaccine and rabies immunoglobulin at government hospitals. These are supplied free under the National Free Drug Initiative and form part of the essential drug lists across states.