Unregulated use of antibiotics threatens livestock sector

Guwahati, July 29: Unregulated use of antibiotics has posed a threat to the livestock sector in the State with an increase in antimicrobial resistance among animals in recent times.

Antimicrobial resistance threatens the effective prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses, and fungi.

Senior officials of the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary department informed that the consequence of antimicrobial resistance become visible in the treatment of mastitis of high yielding cows in the State. Similarly, low dose of antibiotics stops working in case of poultry in the State. Such problems also arise in the treatment of wounds, fever, etc., too.  

According to experts, a section of junior employees of the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary department are responsible for the problem as they are donning the role of veterinarian where there are no animal doctors.

“The increase of antimicrobial resistance among livestock has wrecked havoc in the State. As a result, it has become difficult to treat different diseases of livestock. In Assam, the problem has cropped up due to scarcity of veterinarians in the ground. In different rural areas of the State, farmers are mainly dependent on the junior employees of the department, who have been engaged by the government to boost production of the livestock sector. They don’t have enough knowledge on the use of antibiotics and other medicines. As a result, antimicrobial resistance among animals has increased in the State,” a senior official of the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary department told The Assam Tribune. Experts even noted that an increase of antimicrobial resistance among livestock would also affect the humans who are consuming milk, meat and egg of such animals.  

 “We must engage an adequate number of veterinarians in the State to tackle the situation. As per norms, there is a need of one veterinarian against 5,000 livestock. At present, Assam has around 1.90 crore livestock, so we need around 2,100 veterinarians to provide quality service across the State,” the official stated.

He further informed that Assam has703 sanctioned posts of veterinarians and among them 76 are lying vacant. At present, one veterinarian is serving around 19,500 livestock in the State.

At present Assam has 448 veterinary dispensaries and 767 sub-centres. But in order to ensure quality veterinary service, the State needs around 1,100 veterinary dispensaries and 2,100sub-centres, especially in rural areas.

“In order to ensure quality veterinary service and to boost the livestock sector in Assam, we need to decrease the distance between two veterinary dispensaries. At present, in most cases, the distance between two veterinary dispensaries varies from 20-25 kms or even more. In such a situation, it is not easy for the existing veterinarians to provide quality service to each and every farmer of their territory,” the official added.

On the other hand, experts also pointed out the need of introducing shift duty for veterinarians in the veterinary dispensaries and hospitals, so that farmers can get the service when required without any delay.