THIRUVANATHAPURAM: Super-speciality hospitals for humans are nothing new anymore. But what about one for animals, complete with an ambulance service a la the ubiquitous ‘108’? The Animal Husbandry Department has zoomed in on Maranalloor in Thiruvananthapuram district for establishing Kerala’s first super-speciality veterinary hospital. It is to be set up at a cost of ` 5.1 crore within a year. Targeting better health care for animals and spurring on research, the hospital will have, among other things, advanced diagnostic tools. X-rays, scanners, blood analysis equipment and a well-equipped laboratory are to be part of the computerised facility, Animal Husbandry Director Dr R Vijayakumar said. The department hopes to acquire approximately three acres of unused land belonging to the Dairy Development Department for building the hospital. “We picked a rural area for the project as there generally is better response in rural veterinary hospitals than in urban ones. A super-speciality hospital is one thing farmers have been demanding,” Vijayakumar said. Technical expertise in setting up the super-speciality hospital will come from the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU), he said. The ambulance service is, in fact, a statewide plan. But the department decided to pilot the service in Thiruvananthapuram district since the hospital is coming up here. The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Thiruvananthapuram, is designing the ambulance which, like the hospital, will be rigged with special devices, including animal-lifting machines. The first ‘animal ambulance’ is expected to hit the road by March next year.
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