Representative image | Photo Credit: SHAIKMOHIDEEN A
The Standard Veterinary Treatment Guidelines (SVTG), released recently by the Union Ministry of Animal Husbandry, aims to reduce and regulate the use of antibiotics to treat diseases found among the livestock and poultry. The SVTG also provides for the use of Ayurvedic drugs in veterinary treatment
It is for the first time that the Centre has come up with a standard set for treatment of almost all diseases of animals and birds.
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The SVTG has details of medicines along with dosage, predicted requirement of medicines, duration of treatment, withdrawal period and potential adverse reactions. Union Animal Husbandry Secretary Alka Upadhyay said the guidelines were designed to minimise antimicrobial resistance and effectively control diseases.
“The inclusion of ‘ethnoveterinary’ practices in these guidelines provides additional, cost-effective treatment options for marginal and small-scale farmers, ensuring broader access to quality care,” she said.
Explaining the importance of the SVTG, former Director and Vice-Chancellor of the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) Raj Kumar Singh, who played a pivotal role in its drafting, said though some countries had earlier prepared treatment guidelines for specific diseases, India is the first country to prepare a a set of structured guidelines for the treatment of almost all diseases among animals and birds, covering all segments.
“Animal health is one of the important aspect for the economy of the country. SVTG is for minimising the usage of drugs, including antibiotics. These guidelines will help in reducing the economic burden on farmers as medicines will be cost-effective from now,” Dr. Singh said.
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States in the loop
Union Animal Husbandry Commissioner Abhijit Mitra said the guidelines were drafted by a team of more than 80 professionals from veterinary and medical fields. He said the States had also been consulted on the preparation of the document. The document would act as an instrument to help the veterinary professionals, paraprofessionals and community animal health workers involved in the animal health management and also the farmers, through precise and quality animal treatment services. “SVTG provides latest approaches of treatment for various livestock and poultry diseases wherein quality drugs of proven efficacy have been enlisted,” Dr. Mitra said.
Dr. Singh said Ayurvedic drugs had been clinically proven for the treatment of some of the diseases by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). Dr. Singh said though the adverse impact of antibiotics on animals was not assessed, antimicrobial drug resistance was empirically found among animals too.
The document has prescribed the use of “ethnoveterinary medicine” and herbal drugs, tried on a large-scale by the NDDB for treatment of mastitis. “The validated ethnoveterinary medicine practices for treatment and better health management of bovine mastitis cases are in use to reduce the irrational use of antibiotics, thereby reducing the cost of treatment,” the SVTG says.
Treatment documents prepared by the NDDB and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research have been used to prepare the SVTG.
“The wide use of SVTG will harmonise the animal treatment leading to healthy animals and safe animal-source foods (ASFs); prevent the avoidable usage of antimicrobials, drugs, hormones, and many other medicines which may not be needed in a particular scenario; reduce the antimicrobial, drug, hormone residues in ASFs; and reduce antimicrobial resistance,” the document said.
Published – October 29, 2024 11:08 pm IST
