To ensure that livestock is provided quality treatment in a time-bound manner and the farmer is saved from additional expenses like travelling to the point of care and availing quality medicines, the Himachal Pradesh Government is going to start a new project ‘Sanjeevani’ — providing doorstep delivery of veterinary services to the farmers.
The initiative will serve farmers at 44 blocks located in 12 districts of the state. The centralized call centre at the Directorate of Animal Husbandry will be integrated with 44 Mobile Veterinary Ambulances.
“The uniqueness of the initiative lies in its ability to connect the doctor and the farmer through a mobile app, which also tracks the efficiency of service delivery, medicines prescribed, and livestock diseases related data in one platform,” said the State Government’s spokesperson.
The one-of-its-kind telemedicine platforms will ensure that the farmer avails quality treatment at the doorstep in a time-bound manner. Apart from veterinary services, farmers will also be given guidance on nutrition care for their livestock.
The state’s rural economy is based on agriculture and animal husbandry is a major component of it, said the spokesperson, adding that there are approximately 4.41 million livestock in Himachal Pradesh, and taking its care is an important aspect of every rural household, and timely, proper care can benefit farmers and improve their standard of living.
“Veterinary services like artificial insemination, medicines, vaccination, surgery, infertility testing, etc are being provided to livestock in the state, but to avail of these or to ensure proper healthcare of livestock, dairy farmers have to take their livestock to the nearest clinic which entails expenditure on travel and transport. Sometimes, livestock succumbs to ailment for want of timely treatment,” said the spokesperson adding, “Hence, mobile veterinary clinics are proposed to be set up. The clinics will deliver veterinary services to the doorstep of farmers.”
The Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) has signed an MoU with Bharat Financial Inclusion Limited (BFIL), a subsidiary of IndusInd Bank, for the ‘Sanjeevani’ project. The collaboration, under National Animal Disease Control Programme-Mobile Veterinary Van (NADCP-AHD-MVU), will enhance the doorstep delivery of livestock care, making all veterinary services available for farmers just a phone call away. The toll-free number will be operational soon.
This integrated call centre will work like a single contact point for different matters concerning livestock health care and vaccination programmes and will act as an effective communication platform between government and livestock owners.
It will also provide personalized assistance to the livestock farmers or owners on various aspects such as tele-medical-consultation, information about government schemes, programmes especially Livestock Health and Disease Control Programme, grievance redressal, query resolution etc.
The call centre will ensure coordination between mobile veterinary clinic vehicles and working livestock clinics, to shorten the time taken for extending livestock care.
