Mobile Veterinary clinics, call centre soon

​Hyderabad: On lines of emergency services, farmers in Telangana can now dial just a ‘4-digit’ number to call a ‘Mobile Veterinary Clinic’ for treating their livestock within the shortest possible time. The Department of Animal Husbandry would be coming up with a full-fledged call centre operating from Hyderabad to help farmers find a doctor for their cattle.

For extending the services, the State government already sanctioned Rs 20 crore. As part of this, the number of vehicles would be increased from current 37 to 100 for supporting farmers in different Assembly constituencies.

Though 37 Mobile Veterinary Clinics were launched during October-November last year, the logistics and operations were handled at the divisional headquarters of the department. The farmers had to remember the toll-free number which contains an 11-digit number or the local landline number of the divisional headquarters.

• A full-fledged call centre in the offing
• Services extended from 37 to 100
• Govt sanctions 20 crore

“These numbers are different in each district. But the new service will have a common 4-digit number serving farmers across the State,” said a senior official of the Animal Husbandry department.According to officials, the department had sought Rs 100 crore for the entire project, but currently the government sanctioned only Rs 20 crore.

The department is in the process of finalising tenders to give shape to the idea with the active participation of private players, who would be handling most of the operations and services. These vehicles would be monitored round-the-clock with the help of GPS. The Mobile Veterinary Clinic was initially launched with the idea of providing access to milk-producing heavy animals including cows and buffaloes.

It also served for the cattle like sheep and goat, but priority has been accorded to heavy animals. The call centre services are available between 8 am and 6 pm. The criterion of service is that the mobile clinic would go in to interior places where there is dearth of clinics.

“If a farmer calls up the call centre from a remote area and outside the radius of two km of a veterinary clinic, the mobile clinic would rush to the spot or else he would be informed to approach the nearest clinic if the area is within two km of the nearest clinic, provided the animal is able to walk.

A cow’s average weight is 400 kg and a buffalo is 600 kg, while the Jafarabadi buffalo weighs up to 700 kg. If these animals fall ill, they may not walk,” the official said.

By: MD Nizamuddin