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US$2.5M Veterinary Lab scheduled to open Friday
A number of persons have already been identified and trained to carry out operations at the US$2.5M Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, at Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara.
In an invited comment, Agriculture Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy said that the facility will have at least 22 staff members. He maintained that the lab, which was supposed to have been completed in November 2013, will be ready by Friday (March 28).
Agriculture Minister,
Dr. Leslie Ramsammy
The Minister said that the completion of the structure was dependent on the arrival of an air conditioning unit, which recently arrived from Texas, United States.
“We had to install the AC unit before we could fully complete the building,” the Minister explained.
He said that an additional contract had to be awarded for the installation of the equipment. This, Dr. Ramsammy explained, was inclusive in the lab’s overall cost.
Once the air conditioning unit is installed, the final touches to the building will commence, and after being fully equipped with the necessary tools and technologies, the Veterinary Lab will become operational.
Dr. Ramsammy recently expressed pleasure with the construction of the facility, expressing confidence that it will be beneficial to the livestock sector.
The lab will have the capability to test, detect and diagnose diseases affecting animals.
It is located on the site where the Animal Health Laboratory once stood. That building was demolished and redesigned, since the facility was hardly ever used, and had not been functioning as a full-fledged laboratory.
Dr. Ramsammy explained that the Animal Health Lab was operating as a sample holding facility, and that tests had to be done overseas. However, with the new diagnostic lab, the resources will be made available to allow for testing to be done locally.
When the laboratory is commissioned, it will be equipped to test for brucellosis which affects mainly sheep, goats, pigs, cattle and dogs, as well as bovine (cattle) diseases, leptospirosis, and tuberculosis, among others.
The Minister noted, also, that his Ministry is working to have the laboratory accredited, so that the tests done here can be recognized abroad.
Earlier, Dr. Ramsammy had said that the Veterinary Diagnostic Lab is critical as Guyana moves towards consolidating its food security and lowering its high importation cost. It was further noted that soon there will be a database on the Veterinary Practitioners’ Act, and a Veterinary Council will be set up to register all veterinarians and veterinary technicians across the country.
He also made mention of the Animals (Movement and Disease Prevention) Act, which is intended to address the wellbeing of animals.
The Agriculture Minister said that wanting to improve the quality of meat produced locally; especially for export, would call for healthy animals, thus, a credible animal health lab is necessary.
Once fully completed and functional, the Veterinary Diagnostic Lab will be handed over to, and remain under the supervision of the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA), which is headed by Dr. Dindyal Permaul.
Meanwhile, in the 2014 budget presentation, Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh announced that agriculture continues to be one of the sectors that offer brighter prospects for diversification of productive activity in Guyana.
“Whether it is other crops or livestock for meat production, the potential exists for Guyana to meet considerably more of our domestic food requirements from local production. In much the same manner, the potential exists for a much larger share of the Caribbean’s food import bill to be met from our domestic production.”
Singh pointed out that, to this end, an expanded effort will be launched by Government to promote increased and more diversified food production.
This includes the distribution of materials to farmers…”which purpose, a sum of $200 million has been allocated,” Singh noted.
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