HT Correspondent
TEZPUR, April 28: The Assam Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services Association has celebrated the ‘World Veterinary Day, 2024’ at Tezpur by organising a programme in Sonitpur.
The programme was organised under the aegis of the district animal husbandry and veterinary department on Saturday. The event highlighted the essential role of veterinarians as well as healthcare workers and featured a walkathon with the veterinarians and field assistants, followed by an anti-rabies vaccination camp for the field workers aided by the Tezpur Medical College and Hospital and the Sonitpur district health department.
The meeting, which was held upholding the motto ‘Veterinarians are the essential health workers’, was inaugurated by Garga Mohan Das, ADC (Vety.) by ceremonial lighting of the lamp. Das highlighted how veterinarians are not only essential health workers, but also acknowledged the contribution of veterinarians as essential in administration.
Elaborating the significance of the day Das said, “Global animal welfare advocacy is the goal of the World Veterinary Day. The the observance of the day acts as a reminder of how important veterinarians are in preserving the health of all animals, both domestic and wild. Increasing public awareness of the importance of the work that veterinarians do is one of the main goals of the day.”
Earlier an awareness rally was also taken out across Tezpur, highlighting the need to care about animals. Various officials and workers from the veterinary and animal husbandry department participated in the rally.
The technical session held during the daylong programme emphasised on veterinary public health and its link to human health. Speakers underscored the interconnectedness of environment, animal, and human health, addressing issues such as food safety, antimicrobial resistance, and zoonoses. During the interactive session, the administration addressed concerns from farmers such as rising animal feed prices and ensured a solution to it with help from the department. Moreover, optimizing milk production through heat synchronization was also addressed.
The meeting was also graced by district development commissioner Gaya Prasad Agarwala and district surveillance officer, Tilak Bhattacharjya, former animal husbandry and veterinary officer Binoy Barman, Prasanta Das and other officials of the department. As part of the programme a progressive dairy farmer Kamlesh Shah was acknowledged for his entrepreneurial efforts in the field. Anti-rabies vaccines were also administered to all veterinarians and field assistants of the district on the occasion.
Sub-divisional animal husbandry and veterinary officer, PK Roy briefed the purpose of the meeting, which was presided over by Tiroth Singh.
