PESHAWAR, April 25: The Pakistan Veterinary Medical Association on Monday demanded approval of a service structure for veterinary doctors working in the NWFP and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Talking to newsmen at the press club, the association’s president Dr Alamzeb Mohmand also demanded posts of director-general and secretary for the livestock department in the NWFP.

He said the department had its own secretary in other provinces but in the NWFP and Fata the agriculture secretary looked after it. He said the government could increase its revenue by giving facilities to people associated with the livestock sector.

He said veterinary doctors were appointed in BPS-17, but due to lack of proper service structure most of them retired in the same grade after 30 years.

He said 190 veterinary doctors served in the NWFP and Fata whereas the number of facilities was 900, due to which non-doctors handled sick animals in most of the hospitals.

He said the association had been struggling since 2003 to get a service structure but the officials concerned were using delaying tactics. He said that in Punjab the department had two pots of director-general.

“In the NWFP, there are two posts of director in BPS-19, five posts of deputy director in BPS-18 and 226 posts in BPS-17,” he said.

He said a summary regarding the service structure had been prepared but it had not been sent to the chief minister for approval in four months.

The service structure would only cost Rs1.3 million annually, to which the finance department had agreed, he said.

He said one of the two slaughterhouses in the provincial capital was supervised by a doctor, due to which the government lost blood worth millions of rupees and a large amount in fees.

He said the number of animals slaughtered in the NWFP and Fata annually was 2.5 million but most of those were slaughtered at private places due to the lack of regulatory mechanism.

He said the government could earn Rs100 million per annum if the slaughter houses were regulated.

He said there was a market of Rs50 million for veterinary drugs but the current revenue from the trade was negligible.

The sale of veterinary medicines was looked after by the health department and the drug inspectors didn’t know about those, he said. He said the milk trade was also supervised by health department despite the fact that it came under the domain of the livestock department.