Livestock Management Services (LMS) has called for legal framework to address challenges in the veterinary practice in the country.
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Dr Ezenwa Nwakonobi, the Consultant LMS, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.
Nwakonobi listed some of the challenges in animal healthcare delivery in the country as lack of legal framework, inadequate budgetary allocation and insufficient awareness on animal healthcare.
He said others were comatose veterinary services at the local government level, lack of coordination between government and private veterinary service providers, poor disease reporting and response, especially at state and local government levels.
He further identified other challenges as “emergence and re-emergence of animal diseases some of which are of grave zoonotic and limited capacity of veterinary services to effectively coordinate planning and policy on disease control.’’
“Dearth of data on the availability and spread of veterinary practices and facilities across the country, no scientific basis for planning/implementation of disease control programme.
“Unplanned and misapplication of scarce resources and energies by animal health planners and implementers and uncontrolled veterinary products use like drugs, vaccines and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).’’
Nwakonobi said that there was need for regulatory framework to address those challenges, adding that there should be collaboration between the public and private practitioners.
The consultant said mapping and profiling of veterinary practices were key to addressing some of the challenges in the sector.
He said that already LMS was currently carrying out mapping and profiling in seven states of the federation with focus on the poultry industry.
According to him, the target of the profiling is to gather information in terms of veterinary clinics, laboratories, health centres and other facilities.
Nwakonobi said that effectiveness of animal healthcare system was dependent on all tiers of government as well as other stakeholders such as professional bodies, farmers, processors and vendors.