Workshop held on National Animal Disease Reporting System

GANGTOK, 19 March:  A workshop on “National Animal Disease Reporting System [NADRS], Preventive Measures for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza [HPAI]”, was organized here today at the Forest Department conference hall. The workshop was organized jointly by the National Informatics Centre [NIC] and Animal Husbandry, Livestock Fisheries and Veterinary Services Department.
Joint Director [DI] KC Bhutia, in his welcome address, informed that the recent outbreak of HPAI in Nepal and Bhutan was a warning reminding Sikkim that the disease was in close proximity.
“We need to therefore remain vigilant and act promptly as per the action plan issued by Government of India,” he stressed.
“Recently the state of Odisha confirmed HPAI in wild crows and in this regard we have received several letters from the Government of India regarding the do’s and dont’s particularly not to touch the dead carcass with bare hands and not to perform post mortem in the field,” he informed.
Highlighting that importance of control and containment operations, he pointed out that these efforts were being monitored by the Prime Minister’s Office. “We therefore need to work together with our friends from the forest department to follow up on any sort of mortality of wild birds,” he added
Director [AH], T Lucksom, in his inaugural address, emphasized the importance of prevention and control and informed that NADRS will involve a computerized network linking the various units of Animal Husbandry Department at the block, district and state level to the central disease reporting and monitoring unit [CDRMU] at the DADF at New Delhi.
All diseases scheduled in the prevention and control of infectious diseases in Animals Act 2009 will be included in this reporting system.
He added that the project will improve the efficiency of the departments and provide SMS alerts about animal disease outbreaks, remedial measures and such details. Another benefit will be the integrated management information to systematize the existing record-keeping procedures. After this, all concerned officials of the department will undergo training and by the next financial year, every case in the department will have to reported online, he informed.
“I am sure that with the cooperation from NIC, we will be able to achieve the desired results,” he stated.