Livestock and Dairy Development Department has set up a network for the surveillance and reporting of spread of epidemics in livestock in selected districts of the Punjab province.
This was stated by the Director General Livestock (Extension) Dr Sajjad Zaheer Malik at a one-day workshop on 'spread of diseases in livestock-surveillance and identification' arranged under Strengthening of Livestock Services Project (SLSP) launched by the Punjab government with the cooperation of European Union.
This network has also been linked with the Federal Unit to ensure livestock products in line with WTO standards enabling the country to enhance its export.
The workshop was attended by Dr Muhammad Iqbal Siddqui Director Animal Health, Deputy Project Director SLSP, Deputy Director Information and Publicity and District Livestock officers and project directors from selected districts of the province.
Experts read out their papers regarding spread of epidemics in animals and the importance of establishing of surveillance and reporting system. Director General Livestock (Extension) urged livestock officers to complete projects under SLSP in their respective areas at the earliest and submit the report to the department to analyse its utility. He asked for creating awareness among livestock farmers that they should report appearance of any epidemic to the department.
He said WTO requires us to establish dairies surveillance and reporting system on the pattern of OIE for timely identification of diseases in animals to control epidemics.
Later, he distributed computers among district livestock officers to store data on diseases and ensure an effective surveillance, diagnosis and reporting system. He said this apparatus should be properly used to collect the data.