Thiruvananthapuram: Once again, the corpora-tion is actively considering a project to set up an Animal Birth Control (ABC) centre. There is no point hiring more hands for ABC without sufficient infrastructure, say officials. The new centre could be based on the model ABC centre in Ernakulam, they say. This will be part of the agenda for Thursday’s Animal Husbandry working group meeting.
Now there are two ABC surgeons. After the second surgeon was recently brought on board, the number of surgeries has gone up. Officials say that, now, they can do as many as 10 surgeries each day. Since June, around 400 surgeries have been completed, claim officials.
However, the number of surgeries every day cannot be more than 10, as the ABC team has to rely on the surgery room of the government veterinary hospital at Thiruvallom. The hospital functions till 3 pm, and the doctors here have to attend other animals.
If there is a dedicated facility for ABC, it can be used for treating injuries and accidents of stray dogs. The model centre in Ernakulam even caters to pet dogs, and might be a good model to follow in Thiruvanantha-puram, say officials.
Another plan which the corporation was considering was to take the help of doctors in other government veterinary centres in the city. It is learnt that this could not be taken forward.
Previously, the council had plans to set up an ABC centre at the government veterinary hospital at Thiruvallom. However, despite Thiruvananthap-uram Corporation allocating fund for the project in the 2017-2018 budget, the project never took off. This project was designed arou-nd the idea that prefabricated modules, which were brought to Menamkulam for National Games, can be used by the corporation.
Then officials associated with the project had said, that only part of the '3 crore set aside for Rabies and Animal Birth Control (R-ABC) project, need to be used for setting up the ABC centre. However, a permanent structure is a lot better, says the officials who are part of it now.
