Background: Himachal Pradesh is the northern hilly state of India. In Himachal Pradesh 24,000 to 25,000 dog bite cases occur every year. As per the policy of the government of Himachal Pradesh, there should be free anti rabies vaccine for all the dog bite patients of state from the level of primary health centers under the controlled cold chain. There is the gap in the policy framed and existing situation of treatment practices in the health institutions of the state. Methods: A qualitative study was done in the three CHCs of three districts of Himachal Pradesh having the highest average incidence of dog bite cases in previous three years. In-depth interview of the medical officer in-charges and observation checklist used to assess the infrastructure and documents. Thematic and simple proportional analysis of the data was done for interpretation of the results. Results: Treatment to dog bite cases is given by all the selected institutions but is partial as RIGs are not given. There was no supply of the RIGs from the government to the health institutions surveyed. The IEC activities and intersectoral coordination was negligible. Documents were incomplete and infrastructure was inadequate for prevention and control of rabies. Conclusion: There is wide gap in the policies framed and existing management practices in the health institutions. There is need of sensitization training for medical officers and paramedics to treat the dog bite cases.
