SANGAREDDY: Extending last mile health care services to livestock, the Animal Husbandry Department in Telangana will be introducing an ambulance service for the animals from April.
According to sources, the department has planned to extend health care services at the doorstep of the farmers. As part of that, an ambulance service is being designed on the lines of 108 service.
Once the service is launched, getting any kind of medical assistance for the livestock will be just a call away, literally, irrespective of timings and distances.
This service will be provided with a common number – 109 – and every constituency will have one ambulance.
Each of the ambulances would be equipped with required medicines, surgical operative systems, one veterinary doctor, one para-veterinary and one assistant.
Industrial major GVK, which has been running the 108 service, would provide this service as well. For each vehicle the government would pay ₹17 lakh per annum to the GVK and it would be the responsibility of GVK to hire the required staff and provide the service.
Saving lives
“Taking human beings to the hospital is a difficult task at critical hours and last minute. Think how much more difficult it is to take sick cattle to the hospital given the fact that they are larger in size. We will be in a position to serve the farmers in a better way after launching this service. We can save the life of many cattle,” Additional Director Animal Husbandry K. Laxma Reddy told The Hindu .
“GVK has pioneered in extending health services for human beings and the experience it has gained in running 108 will be helpful to run 109 service. We hope that this will be improve the service for cattle as well as farmers,” said a veterinary doctor.
