SP wants to put an end to 'crude' dog-bite treatment
A final draft on Rabies Control Ordinance for the Province of Iloilo is now out with the Committee on Health here concluding its report and corresponding recommendations.
If and when approved, it is deemed illegal for all and any faith healers, quack doctors, "albularyo," "witch-doctors" and the likes, to perform a locally-designed dog-bite treatment. Albeit claimed to achieve perfectly-effective results, Committee Report No. 10 series of 2007 will finally put an end to such.
Called "tandok" , longtime practice in the hinterland villages have this as supposed cure for dog bites with the process involving some brief ceremony of the local healer alleged to be gifted with powers.
The Department of Health (DOH) has since campaigned against this practice though with the department saying such has never been proven to be effective.
"Tandok" is folk medicine done by placing a deer horn over the wound. This is believed to suck out the rabies virus. Records have shown that patients who received "tandok" treatment died either of rabies or tetanus, which only means that "tandok" is not effective," the DOH in its official website addresses the subject.
Board Member Macario Napulan, a doctor by profession and chair of the Committee on Health pushed for the anti-tandok Ordinance declaring it illegal and posing penalties on violators.
As defined by Napulan, the prohibited practice is a native method used by faith healers and herb doctors to treat dog bites.
Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Silvino Teodosio in supporting the "tandok" ban then said that it is high time that the practice be regulated.
As emphasized, "tandok" is very dangerous and very primitive with no scientific basis. An earlier declaration was made in Passi City declaring "witch-docs" flying and plying within the territorial boundaries here as illegal.
This, as city officials here moved to seek the ultimate approval of the Iloilo Sanggunian Panlalawigan (SP) provisions of City Ordinance No. 2007-012.
"As to its general purpose, objective and intended effect, the Proposed Ordinance has been found to be legal and valid and in keeping with Section 16 or the General Welfare clause of the Local Government Code of 1991 as well as Sec. 468 (4) (v) of the said Code," excerpts of the Committee Report went. "Likewise, the regulatory and penal provisions of the Ordinance have also been found to be in keeping with pertinent provisions of the Local Government Code especially Sec. 468 (l) (iii)."
The committee in pushing for the Ordinance addressed the "Tandok" as "ticklish issue" that touched on the validity of one provision.
As provided for in Section 13.2, it shall be unlawful for any person to use "tandok" method for treating all kinds of animal bites.
As such, it has been declared as a "form of illegal practice of medicine."
"The Provincial Health Officer and the Provincial Veterinarian shall discourage the bitten person/s from going to faith healers or herbolarios using "tandok" or any other unacceptable procedure," the Committee Report continued. "Upon further inquiry for clarification, however, the Provincial Legal Office opined that in declaring as illegal the practice of "tandok" method to cure dog-bite victims, the Proposed Ordinance should include a provision explaining the dangerous nature of "tandok" method. The precaution has been so noted."
In totality, the Committee on Health stated that the Ordinance as proposed "is a product of a thorough discussion by the province's most competent authorities on the matter at hand."