UNAIR NEWS – To celebrate World Veterinary Day, Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) Teaching Veterinary Hospital (RSHP) held free rabies vaccination on Tuesday, April 26, 2022. It is a form of RSHP’s devotion to the community in preventing the spread of rabies among animals and humans.

“We enliven the event by sharing with the community so that people also know the role of veterinarians and this is one of our implementations,” said the Director of the RSHP, Dr Ira Sari Yudpersenti MP drh.

Dr Ira continued, the event provided an opportunity for fifty animals, dogs and cats, to receive a free consultation, physical examination and rabies vaccination. Meanwhile, getting the vaccination on a typical day was quite costly, up to 110 thousand rupiah for one animal.

“Normally, we have twenty thousand (fee, -ed) for admins, then forty (thousand) for doctors, seventy thousand for the vaccine. So, it’s more than a hundred, right,” said Dr Ira.

The event with the theme of strengthening the toughness of veterinarians was also a moment to support domestic innovation and work. It is shown by using the rabies vaccine produced by the nation’s best minds.

Rabies

Free rabies vaccination was chosen because rabies is very dangerous. The disease can attack not only animals but also humans.

To UNAIR NEWS team, Deputy Director of Medical Services, Education and Research RSHP, Dr. Nusdianto Triakoso MP drh said that rabies is still a threat to public health. The disease has a case fatality rate of 100 percent. In other words, when someone is exposed to rabies, there is a time limit before that person dies from contracting it.

Generally, the animal that spreads rabies is the dog. However, all animals, especially warm-blooded ones, can transmit rabies. In some cases on Java Island, some cattle were found infected with rabies. It could be caused by the bite of wild animals such as dogs and cats.

“Because there are two kinds of rabies, some infected (animals) are aggressive, which bite anything, and some have passed that stage, silent or paralyzed,” said Dr. Nusdianto.

Therefore, Dr. Nusdianto hopes that the provision of free rabies vaccination can prevent rabies and provide education to the public so that they are more concerned about the health of their pets.

Author: Haryansyah Setiawan

Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia