KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 17 March) – Belief in “faith healing” and traditional practices like “tandok” have remained among the top causes of rabies deaths in South Cotabato province, which reported at least eight confirmed cases since last year.
John Arlo Codilla, rabies program coordinator of the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO), said their records showed that all seven rabies fatalities in the province in 2021 and the lone case so far this year were not vaccinated against the disease, and with some reported to have sought supposed alternative cure.
Aside from “tandok,” which is done by placing a piece of deer horn over a dog or cat bite to reportedly suck out the rabies virus, he said other bite victims chose to believe in “conventional faith healing” practices such as the use of certain “stones, oils, and leaves.”
“There is a big chance that an infected person will die if they choose these over the rabies vaccines. Many of our reported rabies deaths only had tandok as intervention,” he said in a media forum Wednesday.
South Cotabato posted the highest number of confirmed rabies deaths in the country in 2017 with 18 cases but it declined by 50 percent or just nine in 2018.
The cases dropped to eight (20 percent) in 2019 and six (25 percent) in 2020, IPHO records showed.
The eight rabies deaths since last year were from Koronadal City and the municipalities of Banga, Tupi, and Norala.
IPHO recorded a total of 12,557 dog and cat bite cases in 2021.
Codilla said this shows that rabies has “not yet been totally eliminated” in the province and remains a major health concern.
The local government had targeted eradicating rabies cases this year but the program has been extended for another five years or until 2027, he said.
Codilla said it is important for all dog and cat bite victims to seek immediate intervention from Rural Health Units (RHU) and the Animal Bite Treatment Centers (ABTCs) and to get vaccinated against rabies.
He said rabies vaccines are given for free in the nine ABTCs in the province’s 10 towns and lone city.
These are situated at the South Cotabato Provincial Hospital and Dr. Arturo P. Pingoy Medical Center in Koronadal City, Soccsksargen General Hospital in Surallah town, municipal hospital, and the RHU of Polomolok, and the RHUs of Banga, Norala, Sto. Nino and Lake Sebu.
Codilla said 60 percent of the vaccine supplies of the ABTCs are provided by the Department of Health while the rest are from the respective local government units.
The provincial government of South Cotabato has allocated some P1 million annually for the purchase of additional anti-rabies vaccines for the ABTCs. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)