State-level training programme for veterinary surgeons gets under way

Diagnostic facilities for detecting avian influenza and swine flu will be readied in the State, Minister for Animal Husbandry J. Chinchurani said here on Friday.

She was inaugurating a State-level training programme for veterinary surgeons for the field-level collection of brain samples of animals suspected to be having rabies and for handling veterolegal cases, at the State Institute of Animal Diseases here on Friday.

Collection of animal samples at the field will help do away with the hassles of bringing animal carcasses to the laboratory for investigations, she pointed out.

Attempts are on to upgrade the BSL II laboratory at the State Institute of Animal Sciences to BSL III. This would mean that the samples for testing avian influenza and swine flu can be tested at SIAD itself, instead of sending it to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) at Bhopal.

The function was chaired by the Chief Disease Investigation Officer, Sheela Sali T. George.

The Director of Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals, Vinnie Joseph, Thiruvananthapuram district animal husbandry officer, P.S. Sreekumar, among others, spoke.

In the first phase, 25 veterinary surgeons in the district are being given training in collecting animal samples at the field.

Published - October 04, 2024 09:09 pm IST