Daily Times

Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan has directed the authorities to accelerate efforts to contain the spread of Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) and put in place an effective mechanism for its monitoring.

He also directed the finance and livestock departments to finalize all matters related to the release of required funds for purchasing more vaccines and said that the provincial government would provide all required resources to this end on priority basis. He issued these directives while presiding over a meeting to review the latest situation of Lumpy Skin Disease of cattle in the province and steps being taken to control the spread of the disease.

Provincial Minister for Finance Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Chief Secretary Dr. Shehzad Bangash, Principal Secretary to CM Amjad Ali Khan, Secretary Livestock Muhammad Israr and other concerned officials attended the meeting. The meeting deliberated upon matters pertaining to contain the spread of the contagious disease and several important decisions were made to this end. While briefing the meeting about the latest situation of Lumpy Skin Disease, it was told that first case of LSD was reported in April this year from DI Khan and so far thousands of animals had been affected across the province adding that 25 districts had been partially affected by LSD whereas mortality rate of LSD is up to five percent. It was said that in the wake of forthcoming Eid-UL -Azha, the risk of LSD spread could increase due to increased movement of cattle into the province.

Touching upon the measures being taken to contain the spread of LSD, it was informed that the LSD task force had been established at provincial level while animal check posts were established at provincial and Districts entry points. It was added that anti Tick Spray Campaigns were carried out covering the 0.8 million animals.

Similarly, 274000 doses of vaccine had been procured and supplied to affected districts. Moreover, a mobile application had been developed for timely reporting of LSD cases. It was decided in the meeting to provide the required funds to the Livestock Department on an urgent basis for purchasing more anti LSD vaccines.