Centre unveils standard treatment guidelines for livestock, poultry

They discourage excessive use of antibiotics in poultry and livestock

The Centre has prepared comprehensive treatment guidelines for veterinary doctors to standardise practices across the livestock and poultry sector, a crucial first-of-its-kind initiative that, akin to humans, discourages the indiscriminate use of antibiotics as the first line of treatment in animals, and advocates the use of alternative medicine.

 

Prepared by the Ministry of Animal Husbandry Dairying and Fisheries, the ‘Standard Veterinary Treatment Guidelines for Livestock and Poultry (SVTG)’ aim to provide symptomatic treatment for all animal diseases until they are laboratory-confirmed.

 

Covering over 270 diseases across 12 major livestock species, they are designed to serve as a ‘living document’, and will be open to periodic updates as new insights and practices emerge. They will serve as advocacy tools and are not legally binding regulations

 

“Through this initiative, we aim to curb irrational treatment practices, promote veterinary drug stewardship, and foster compliance with rational antimicrobial use. This is a critical step toward addressing the growing global concern of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which poses risks to both animal and human health,” said Union Animal Husbandry Commissioner Abhijit Mitra.

 

“The consistent application of veterinary treatment guidelines will ensure that antibiotics are used prudently, minimising the risks of overuse as well as misuse and contributing to food safety in animal-source foods (ASFs),” he said.

 

Mitra said just as in human health, indiscriminate use of antibiotics as the first line of treatment by doctors has also emerged as a serious concern in animal health.

 

“Indiscriminate use of antibiotics in animals too leads to the development of antimicrobial resistance over a period, making the antibiotics less potent. It is one of the factors the guidelines will try to bring down. They will also help doctors to provide the first line of treatment quickly and effectively,” Mitra told Business Standard.

 

The guidelines pitch for the use of alternative medicine such as Ayurveda for the treatment of animal diseases rather than just relying on allopathic treatment procedures. They state that due care has been exercised for minimal to no antibiotic use in situations where no standard treatment is available and symptomatic treatment is provided.

 

After the laboratory confirmation, the treatment would be based on the standard veterinary treatment norms for that individual disease, as described in the ‘Standard Veterinary Treatment Guidelines’.

 

The guidelines have been prepared by more than 80 experts, and in consultation with all the states to keep them in the loop on how to treat animal diseases in the first place before it is formally detected.

 

“The final decision on treatment rests with the attending veterinarian, based on their professional judgment and the specific clinical situation, as per the provisions of the Indian Veterinary Council Act, 1984,” the guidelines said.

 

The guidelines will also help in the planning and costing of services. They will become important tools for monitoring and authorising procedure(s) in public-funded animal health insurance schemes, thus, becoming indispensable tools due to built-in quality control, regulatory, and planning functions, both for public and private service providers.