Dog flown in from France treated for ₹10k in Punjab
Three-and-halfyear-old Eva, a female Gull Terrier and a pet passport holder of France, was unable to keep her injured leg on the ground for the past three months as she was suffering from anterior cruciate ligament rupture, a knee injury that is also common in football and hockey players.
Pet owner NRI Sanjeev Kumar Jangwal (48)took her to a hospital in France where he learned about her injury. “The staff told me that the cost of the treatment will be 4,500 Euros. As treatment cost was too expensive, I decided to bring Eva to India,” said Jangwal.
What followed was a rare case of veterinary tourism as Jangwal flew his pet from Paris to Ludhiana, where it was successfully operated upon at a meagre cost of ₹800 at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU).
The overall cost of treatment for the injury is nearly 4,500 Euros (around ₹3.22 lakh) in France while the pet got the entire treatment in less than ₹10,000 in India. The travel expense of Eva is between ₹50,000 and ₹60,000, the pet owner said.
Jangwal, who belongs to Jalandhar, said, “Eva underwent the surgery on January 31 and is on the course to recovery. I was surprised to know that the cost of surgery was just around ₹800 in GADVASU.” He added, “However, I faced some problems in bringing my pet to India as agents, who deal in arranging transportation of pets, created unnecessary hassles.”
Associate professor at GADVASU Dr Arun Anand said such injuries are common in big-breed dogs. “The only cure for anterior ligament cruciate rupture is surgery. Eva will be able to walk in 15 days,” he said.
Vice-chancellor Dr AS Nanda said he sees a big scope in veterinary tourism. “We have trained faculty to deal with such cases. We are also running exchange programmes ,” said Nanda.