8-year-old boy succumbs to dog bite after battling for 15 months
Hyderabad: For 15 months, Manchikatla Maniteja’s life hung in the balance on a life support ventilator, as his parents desperately tried to save their eight-year-old son.
But on Monday, March 16, the child breathed his last.
It was any other day on December 26, 2024, for Maniteja and his parents, Manchikatla Srinivas and Madhavi, who were attending a relative’s marriage in their hometown in Telangana‘s Jagtial district.
The festivities soon turned sombre when the boy, who was playing outside with other children, was attacked by a stray dog. The child suffered grave injuries to his neck and shoulders.
His anxious parents rushed him to a hospital in Jagtial and later shifted him to a private hospital in Hyderabad.
From then on, it was a long and uncertain road for Srinivas and Madhavi, who tried to save their child.
Maniteja’s condition deteriorated, and soon, the child was on a ventilator support. Other than minimal body movements, there was not much progress. Doctors informed that the nerve going from the spine to the brain was damaged.
Madhavi and Srinivas brought their child home, set up the room with facilities like an air conditioner and continued his treatment, spending nearly Rs 50 lakh over the course of time.
On Monday, Maniteja succumbed to his injuries, leaving behind heartbroken parents.
This post was last modified on March 17, 2026 6:29 pm