Veterinary dispensary occupied by farmer for tethering animals in Mandi Bahauddin

Mandi Bahauddin(Sher Gondal) : Apart from being source for providing meat and dairy products for human consumption, healthy livestock play a major role in building up national economy.  Therefore it is imperative for government to provide veterinary facilities in rural area where cattle are bred.

Presently veterinary facilities are insufficient to control and treat cattle diseases. Veterinary hospitals are mostly located at district and tensil HQs and farmers find it difficult to take animals there on foot due to long distances, congested roads and costly transportation. They mostly consult old farmers and give treatment to sick cattle’s on their advice. This type of treatment hardly eliminates diseases.

Generally animals do not have good health and give low production. Keeping these facts and public demand in view, government decided to establish veterinary dispensary in every union council. Under this program in 1996 a dispensary was built at Lakhnewal village in area of Union Council Shahidanwali.

No veterinary assistant was posted and dispensary building was occupied by one of the farmers for tethering animals. One and half year past a veterinary assistant was posted who since then has been providing treatment to cattle. But veterinary dispensary is not equipped with required facilities.

The in charge dispensary Veterinary Assistant Omer Hayat when contacted said he did not have sufficient medicines for treatment of cattle. Besides there is no cattle crash installed and the dispensary building is in shabby condition. It is without boundary wall and no electricity is provided in the building. On a question he said at average 14 cattle are brought to dispensary daily for treatment.

Mostly these animals suffer from foot and mouth diseases which are common in this area. He further said on call he treats cattle on the spot. In addition to that he administers vaccine to three hundred cattle daily as protective measure against diseases. Farmers of the area said the dispensary building should be repaired and provided with electricity.

Boundary wall should be raised and sufficient medicines be made available for cattle treatment. Cattle crash should be installed as it is an urgent requirement for examining cattle and giving them vaccine, medicines and wrapping bandage to sick and injured animals. They also said that government should seriously consider improving health facilities for livestock.