12 mobile veterinary clinics launched with PDO’s support
launched the second phase of the project, costing around RO304,000. It is funded by Petroleum Development Oman.
The mobile veterinary clinics are equipped with all diagnostic, treatment and immunisation tools as well as capable of conducting various operations in order to provide veterinary services for those far away from fixed veterinary clinics, MoAF stated.
Dr Hadi bin Mohsen al Lawati, director general of Animal Resources at the ministry, stressing the importance of mobile veterinary clinics, said, “In the first stage, we allocated large mobile veterinary clinics, with laboratory facilities as well. These vans serviced areas where large number of breeders could access it for treatment of their animals but were far away from fixed clinics.
“The project was a success and then we thought of reaching livestock owners in the most distant places who could not come to fixed or large-sized mobile clinics. Therefore in the next phase small-sized vehicles were chosen to facilitate access to people in remote places, dedicated only to treatment and operations, without lab facilities.”
Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Hussein al Ajmi, executive director for External Affairs, PDO, said, “We are pleased to cooperate with the ministry in such social investment projects. We are ready to finance the ministry in the third phase and are waiting for more details on what kind of vehicles are needed by the ministry.”
The mobile veterinary clinic is a four-wheel drive vehicle with twin cabins. A medical team consisting of a veterinarian, a veterinarian help and a driver is assigned to each car. As per the Agricultural Census 2013, the livestock population of the sultanate is about 3.2mn heads, of which 359,507 are cattle, 2,085,206 goats, 548,231 sheep and 242,832 camels.