LUCKNOW Patients and attendants visiting one of Uttar Pradesh’s premier super-speciality hospitals, the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), are navigating an unexpected and dangerous hazard: roaming packs of stray dogs. The problem persists despite repeated reports of dog bites and a Supreme Court directive prohibiting stray animals on hospital premises.

The LMC squad catching a stray dog on the PGI campus. (Sourced)

The SC’s November 2025 directions require hospitals and other healthcare institutions to ensure that stray dogs do not enter or inhabit their campuses. The court also directed hospital managements to designate a nodal officer for keeping the premises free of stray dogs, while asking local bodies to conduct periodic inspections.

At SGPGIMS, the issue had earlier prompted the institute administration to constitute a committee after complaints about dog bites on the campus. The Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) was subsequently approached to catch stray dogs.

However, the exercise reportedly ran into opposition from dog lovers residing within the campus. When the LMC squad arrived to catch dogs, a group of residents protested before the institute director. In an attempt to resolve the dispute, a committee involving dog lovers was constituted.

But the arrangement appears to have done little to address the immediate concern of patients and their attendants.

For people entering the campus, encounters with stray dogs have become a matter of chance. Some manage to pass without incident, while others say they are chased or threatened by dogs while walking through different parts of the hospital premises.

The issue assumes greater significance because SGPGIMS is a tertiary care centre where patients include those undergoing treatment for serious illnesses. For an elderly patient, a child, a person with limited mobility or an already distressed attendant, being chased by a pack of dogs on a hospital campus can pose an additional safety risk.

The apex court has noted the irony of hospitals — institutions that treat victims of dog bites — becoming vulnerable to the same problem. In its November 2025 order, the court referred to incidents of patients, attendants and staff being attacked by dogs residing within hospital compounds.

The question now is whether the responsibility for animal welfare and the safety of patients can be balanced without allowing the hospital campus to become a permanent habitat for stray dogs.

For SGPGIMS, the immediate challenge is to ensure that compassion for animals does not come at the cost of patient safety and compliance with the SC’s directions.

PGI Director Dr RK Dhiman said: “The hospital administration has taken note of the incidents and approached the LMC for cleaning the campus from dogs as thousands of patients come to consult doctors.”

LMC chief veterinary officer Abhinav Verma said: “We were called to catch dogs, but were able to catch only five on day one and one on day 2. There was opposition by a group and we were not allowed to catch dogs further. As PGI campus remains open for patients, dogs keep invading the campus. They get a lot of eating material from dog lovers so their number on the campus is in hundreds.”

He added, “The dogs caught from PGI are kept at the sterilisation centre, but we need a shelter home to keep them. LMC had identified land in Jehta and its project is finalised. Soon the work is expected to start, once funds are given for the project.”

Urban development secretary Anuj Jha said municipal bodies would have to remove stray dogs from public places in accordance with the Supreme Court’s directions.

“Dog shelters will have to be made across the state. The department has released funds for the same and approved the designs sent by municipal corporations. Any laxity will not be tolerated,” he added.