For representational purpose. (Photo | EPS)
CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Veterinary Council (TNSVC) on Tuesday launched a mobile app ‘Kalnadai Maruthuvar’ to tackle the quack menace, particularly in rural pockets. The platform caters to users in four broad categories — animal entrepreneurs, livestock farmers, pet owners, and information. It is available on Android and Apple IOS, and services are chargeable.
“Widespread complaints against quacks have put the credibility of veterinarians at stake. To counter this, we decided to collate a list of veterinarians registered under TNSVC and make it accessible to the masses,” B Saravanan, TNSVC president said. In a year, the council receives over 100 complaints against quacks.
The TNSVC has 5,585 registered veterinary doctors, of whom 3,654 are listed on the app. About 1,100 doctors are above the age of 65 years, and 400-450 involved in government services were not registered on Kalnadai Maruthuvar. The vets are filtered into 12 categories based on animals they treat.
On an average, the State government spends Rs 1 crore on educating a student of veterinary medicine. “The platform was developed for optimum utilisation of vets and fulfilling the needs of various sections of society,” added Saravanan.
Meanwhile, animal lovers can log on to the app to book treatments for their pets, request vaccinations. The portal will be able to arrange inoculations for cats, usually rare in the market. “Depending on the requests, the demand for the cat vaccines can be gauged,” said a senior veterinarian from Madras Veterinary Hospital, Vepery.
Under the ‘animal entrepreneurs’ category, farmers can seek doctors’ support in preparing project reports for bank loans, economic advice while rearing animals, and entrepreneurial advice. According to an official, general information on livestock rearing, commercial poultry farming, biosecurity measures, and farming of other animals is also available.
