Farmers Complain About The Difficulty Of Getting Medicines To Overcome FMD

Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Association of Indonesian Cattle and Bauble Breeders (PPSKI) said that farmers in a number of areas had difficulty getting medicines for their livestock infected with mouth and foot disease (FMD). Difficulties occur because of the scarcity of these drugs.

Chairman of PPSKI Nanang said that the journey to control the FMD outbreak was still very long. According to him, this epidemic will not disappear in a short period of time.

"This PMK has a long journey, it can't be completed in 2-3 months, no. We estimate that more than 3 years will not necessarily be over. Why? Many livestock are exposed," he said in a virtual discussion, Thursday, June 30.

In an emergency situation like this, said Nanang, it is very unfortunate that medicines for the treatment of livestock are becoming scarce in these areas. In fact, these drugs are really needed.

"There is a shortage of medicines, whether it's disinfectants, antibiotics, antipyretics and vitamins. In many areas there is a scarcity. Even though we really need medicines to reduce potential losses (loss of livestock due to FMD infection)," he explained.

Separately, Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo said the Ministry of Agriculture provided 1.05 million liters of disinfectant assistance and 800,000 pcs of syringes throughout the region.

"Meanwhile, other assistance is in the form of 203,000 doses of medicine and 2,000 units of handspyer," said Syahrul.

Syahrul said that COVID-19 was not over yet, now a new epidemic has emerged that attacks livestock, namely mouth and nail disease (PMK).

Syahrul said, no one wanted this epidemic to enter Indonesia, but this is part of the reality.

Therefore, said Syahrul, his party moved quickly to control the FMD outbreak which had spread in 19 provinces by launching a national disinfection movement. This step was initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) supported by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) and the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI).

"I'm happy that BNPB is fully involved. If all the intentions are to help anyone, they can. The Ministry of Agriculture can't play with this PMK. The virus is invisible, the opponent is unclear. Everyone has to help. Let's overcome this together. Thank you for the response. PMI quickly. Our handling of COVID-19 is the best and I'm sure we can handle PMK too. The Ministry of Agriculture must be a fighter for a better country," he said.

Citing standbypmk.id, as of June 30, 2022, at 17.09 WIB, it was noted that this FMD disease had spread to 19 provinces and 223 regencies/cities, with 298,474 sick cases, 98,834 recovered, 2,063 conditional slaughter, 1,774 deaths. tails, and 172,192 have been vaccinated.