Flu: ARD does too little, too late

Pranesh Sarkar
KOLKATA, Dec. 22: At a time when Bird Flu outbreaks are being reported in the state, the state government failed to send blood samples to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) in Bhopal for confirmation of the disease. It may be mentioned here an above average mortality of poultry birds was reported from Bankura a couple of days back.
Senior officials of state animal resources development department (ARD) told The Statesman that they could not collect blood samples of dead birds because they learnt about the mortality of poultry in Bankura six days after the birds died.
The dead birds were buried by the poultry owners, before the ARD officials could reach the affected villages.
Experts felt that this has exposed the callousness of the state government, as this was not the first time that the H5N1 virus has hit the state.
The state came to know about the mortality of birds in Malda too, much later, whereas presence of H5N1 virus in Malda had been confirmed.
According to the officials, a total of 600 poultry birds have reportedly died in Bankura. It was also learnt that majority of these birds died in an organised poultry farm. Some poultry birds died in backyard poultry too. As all the dead birds were either buried by the poultry owners, officially the death of only 150 was reported from Bankura's Onda block.
When contacted, Mr K Saha, director of ARD, said: “Samples from Bankura could not be sent to Bhopal as our officials did not find any dead birds in the area. The dead birds were buried by the owners and later these were dug up by dogs. Meanwhile, officials were told that the birds died of cold.” A senior ARD official told The Statesman: “Actually the field level ARD staff came to know about above average mortality of poultry birds after almost seven days. As a result, when they reached the area to collect samples, the dead birds had already been buried. However, Bird Flu confirmation test was required here as the deadly virus has returned to the state.”
The district magistrate of Bankura, Mr Sundar Majumdar, said: “Samples of dead birds were not sent for Bird Flu confirmation test after ARD officials identified the disease as Ranikhet, a common disease which affects the birds.”