Dr Adrian (seated, fourth left) with the new veterinary assistants.
KUCHING: The Veterinary Services Department (VSD) has recruited a group of 28 veterinary assistants to help in the fight against rabies outbreak in affected areas in the state.
According to Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas, the group had reported for duty.
“They will strengthen the manpower of the department. We have announced earlier that we will get extra manpower and they are the ones,” he said in a statement here yesterday.
Uggah who is chairman of the State Disaster Management Committee added they will be deployed statewide immediately after completing certain necessary training.
Meanwhile the Sarawak VSD director Dr Adrian Susin said the new officers will be divided into six teams to cover vaccination, surveillance, laboratory, quarantine, enforcement and livestock development.
“Each group will be assigned to the various sections for hands-on training before being posted out to the various divisions and branches of the department.”
Thus far, rabies has killed 12 people in Sarawak since it was first detected in June last year. A total 46 localities have been declared as rabies-infected including Sibu, Miri and Kapit divisions recently.
On Oct 12, a man who tried to bring a dog from Kuching to Limbang became the first person to be compounded for taking a dog out from a rabies-infected area without movement permit from the state veterinary authority.
Bringing out dogs and cats from rabies-infected areas without movement permit from the state veterinary authority is an offence under the Veterinary Public Health Ordinance 1999.