ISLAMABAD, Feb 2: With fresh cases of bird flu reported in Karachi, the government is planning to regulate the country’s poultry sector comprising about 26,000 farms to make its faltering avian influenza control initiative effective.

“We are taking measures to regulate the poultry farms,” said Animal Husbandry Commissioner Rafiqul Hassan Usmani on Saturday at a press conference.

He called for measures on war footing to contain the disease, which was first officially confirmed in the country in 2006.

Health ministry spokesman Orya Maqbool hinted that the government was contemplating an ordinance to regulate the poultry sector. “Human lives are much more important than business,” he said.

Over 5,000 fowls have died over the past week after the disease was reported in two farms on the suburbs of Karachi. Last year 79 incidents of bird flu outbreak occurred in the country and the first human casualty to the disease was reported.

Experts believe that an unregulated poultry sector where workers seldom care about protective measures has been the major reason behind the outbreaks.

Mr Usmani said the government had so far been maintaining an ‘open policy’ to promote the poultry sector under which only a no-objection certificate from the environment ministry was required to establish a farm.

However, recent developments relating to the frequent outbreaks of the disease in the country had forced a rethink in the strategy and registration of poultry farms was being started.

Replying to a question, the commissioner suggested that ‘under reporting’ of the disease by farmers was the grey area in the anti-bird flu initiative.

“We have all resources available with us to fight the problem but reporting of the disease by poultry farmers has to be improved.”

The government is currently relying only on its compensation policy to encourage the farmers to report the disease. The farmers are paid 75 per cent of the cost of production for the dead and culled birds.

The livestock ministry has 18 rapid response teams throughout the country to deal with any outbreak of disease.

APP adds: The health ministry spokesman said no human case of avian influenza had been reported after the recent outbreak of the disease in Karachi.

He said the provincial and district governments had been directed to adopt measures for averting any outbreak of avian influenza.

He said the government was monitoring the situation in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and it had taken appropriate steps to ensure timely containment of any human cases of avian influenza across the country.

He said the staff of the farm where bird flu virus had been found were under observation in a hospital. According to laboratory reports all of them were safe from H5N1 virus, he said.

He said the federal government has allocated separate places in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences and hospitals in Karachi for any suspected patients to protect other people.

He said the ministry had launched the National Plan for Prevention and Control of Avian Influenza and Pandemic Influenza costing Rs330.68 million.

He said district governments were responsible for monitoring poultry farms.