NINE people have been hospitalised in Sinazongwe district after they were bitten by a stray dog during the Easter weekend.
The nine who were rushed to the hospital after the incident are still receiving treatment at Maamba District hospital.
Sinazongwe District Commissioner Protasio Mulenga said the incident happened on Saturday when the stray dog started attacking and biting members of the public and left them with deep wounds.
Mr Mulenga said the matter was taken to the veterinary department who have since acted and killed the dog.
“On Saturday nine people were bitten by a stray dog in Maamba’s central business district, but the veterinary department have intervened and the dog has been killed. I want to appeal to members of the public that they should be free as the dog was killed on Sunday,”he said.
He said government was going to pay all the medical treatment for the dog bites for the victims as the affected could not afford.
Meanwhile some parts of Sinanzongwe district have been cut off from Maamba following the collapse of the two bridges one between Maamba Central Business District and the Food Reserve Agency shed and another bridge which borders Namafulo and Mweemba road.
Mr Mulenga said his office has notified the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) over the collapse of the two bridges.
“We are experiencing too much rain here which has left some of the bridges collapsing in some parts of the district and some parts of the districts are now cut off.
“But we just hope that this water will fill up the Kariba dam,” he said.
Sell it to the Chinese!
This is not a question of the victims affording or affordng treatment. This is a question of victims in a public space being compensated. The law says that those who own dogs should keep them fenced or on a leash. If someone’s dog bites someone in a public area, the owner of the dog should compensate the vitcims, failure to which the state takes responsibility.
Why is there no mention of whether the dog was rabid or not. This should be the priority before you even start talking compensation.