The National Centre for Animal Health under the Department of Livestock recorded almost 200 notifiable disease outbreaks of animals in the last year alone. Notifiable disease is any disease that is required by law to be reported to the government authorities. The number was only 45 between 2021 and 2022. While the number of livestock disease outbreak is increasing at an alarming rate, the shortage of veterinary professionals is becoming a cause of concern.
African Swine fever, foot and mouth disease, lumpy skin disease, rabies, and highly pathogenic avian influenza among others are some of the common animal diseases diagnosed in the country.
Almost 4500 animals died due to notifiable diseases last year. Among these over 3700 are farm chickens died due to infectious bursal disease.
Meanwhile, according to the latest figures from the Royal Civil Service Commission, there are only 34 veterinary doctors in the country today. This year also saw seven veterinary doctors leave the profession.
According to the agriculture and livestock minister, the country is not only facing a shortage of veterinary doctors but also a shortage of livestock extension supervisors to cater to the people depending on the livestock sector for livelihood.
The Civil Service Statistics Report 2022 show that 80 people from the Agriculture and Livestock Services Group left the system last year, leaving the livestock sector which is part of the larger primary sector contributing about 20 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product in an uncertainty.
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Kinzang Lhadon
Edited by Sherub Dorji
