Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Clinic for your pet is just a dial away

Special Correspondent

—Photo: S. Gopakumar

Clinic on wheels: Minister for Animal Husbandry C. Divakaran and Mayor C. Jayan Babu inspecting the mobile veterinary clinic.

Thiruvananthapuram: The city Corporation on Friday launched a mobile veterinary clinic designed to provide emergency medical assistance for pets and cattle. The facility is being implemented with assistance from the Animal Husbandry Department.

A converted eight-seater Maruti Omni will be used for this purpose. The vehicle can double up as a kennel, a stretcher for sick animals, transport for veterinary doctors and a storage facility for vaccines. All the units will be detachable.

Senior vet surgeon L. Ravikumar said the new service was drawn up in the light of the increasing number of emergency calls from pet owners. He said the difficulty in obtaining the services of veterinary doctors at odd hours was a major problem for farmers, often forcing them to depend on quacks for emergency treatment of cattle or to assist the delivery of calves at night.

“The mobile service is designed to address this need. By reducing the response time, we hope to bring down casualties. The vehicle can also be used to conduct vaccination camps for pets in residential colonies and other public places. We are expecting assistance from the Animal Welfare Board of India to augment the mobile service with additional vehicles and manpower,” he said. Minister for Animal Husbandry C. Divakaran inaugurated the mobile veterinary clinic at a function held here on Friday.

A team of volunteers set up by the local body is also being equipped to assist doctors attached to the mobile unit. Set up under the Suraksha scheme for Integrated Rabies Control and Animal Birth Control launched by the Corporation, the team comprising 17 youth is trained to handle animals brought to the vet hospitals as well as to look after pet dogs. The mobile unit can be contacted on phone numbers: 2164891/892.

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