Vet pharmacists fume at govt order

The circular sent by the Director Animal Husbandry Department to the Deputy Directors and Senior Veterinary Officers had also warned that any unauthorised person found practicing veterinary medicine was punishable under law with a fine of Rs 1,000 and on subsequent conviction, with imprisonment upto six months and a fine of Rs 5,000. The provision for conviction is detailed under the Indian Veterinary Council Act 1984, operative in Punjab.

Earlier, the veterinary pharmacists employed in government dispensaries used to treat animals and administer medicine. The Veterinary Pharmacist Union Punjab has contested the government’s notification and has been organising protest rallies at its district headquarters.

The union has resented the notification and has demanded the government to authorise the pharmacists to treat 44 diseases of animals on the HP pattern.The union spokesman said that veterinary dispensaries in the state were ill-equipped and there was perennial shortage of cotton, bandage and phenol.

The medicines issued by the department for a year were enough only for one month, he said, adding that turpentine oil had not been allotted to any dispensary for the last five years. With the government banning the pharmacists from treating animals, the villagers would be highly disadvantaged, he said.

The union claims that the villagers would now have to go up to 7 km to the nearest hospital for getting their ailing animals treated. Moreover, the hospitals would also be pressured as one hospital had jurisdiction over nearly 10 villages.

The union has also demanded a pay scale of Rs 5,480-8,925 for its members, exemption from Income Tax limits for all class iii employees and starting of a promotion channel.

As per the notification, the vet pharmacists would be allowed to administer only preliminary aids to the animals like assisting veterinary officers in surgical and gynecological operations, washing their mouth, hooves, feet and udders, castration of farm ruminants, securing of animals and p reparation of medicines, ointments and vaccinations.