Udaipur : Under the central govrnment scheme of vaccination for control of Food and Mouth Disease among livestock specially milking cattle, a special campaign would take off inthe district from 21 September onwards. The state wide program would continue till November 4 and cent percent coverage of milking animals would be ensured. The preparations are almost complete andthe animal husbandry department is ready to kick start the campaign, Joint Director Bhupendra Bharadwaj told Udaipur Kiran. In Udaipur 16.68 lakh animals would be vaccinated.
As per the interim live stock census 2019, there are around 14.28 Lakh buffaloes and cows in Udaipur district and in the first phase 12.85L would be vaccinated. Later on, 2.07 lakh animals would be injected first booster dose and 1.88 lakh animals wold be covered under the second booster vaccination round, Bharadwaj said. Booster dose is given to boost the immunity of the animals. For the effective execution of the campaign, the district has been divided into 15 blocks. A team of 324 assistants and 36 veterinary doctors would carry out the vaccination program in teams.
ources claim 77 posts are vacant against the total post of 128 veterinary doctors in Udaipur while 158 out of 496 veterinary assistant posts are lying vacant. Similarly 410 out of 515 subordinate posts too are vacant and this could hamper the effective execution of the program, however, officials claim despite the adversaries, the department staff is determined to achieve the target in the stipulated time. Nodal Officer Dr Om Prakash Sahu said a cold chain system has been maintained to preserve the vaccine so that its quality is intact.
A total of 35 cluster refrigeration centers have been made and 8-10 organisations have been attached with each of the center. “So far we have completed 9 stages of vaccination in past 5 years under the FMD control program. Vaccination is done twice a year and the results have been encouraging. There have been no major outbreak of the disease and the rate of infected animals too have reduced considerably during the period” Sahu said. FMD known as ‘Muhpaka and khurpaka’ is a fatal disease which claims the lives of hundreds of cattle and other hoofed animals each year in rural areas, causing heavy losses to farmers and dairy owners.