Dear Minister Of Agriculture, Palembang Is Starting To Find It Difficult To Cure Cows Exposed To PMK

Illustration of anticipating the spread of mouth and nail disease (FMD) in cattle. (Between)

PALEMBANG - Palembang City Government is facing problems with mouth and nail disease (PMK). The supply of drugs to cure cattle exposed to FMD in Palembang is running low.

The head of the Agriculture and Livestock Service Office of Palembang City, Sayuti, said that currently the availability of veterinary drugs at the central distributor level has run out to meet the supply in Java.

Meanwhile, the stock of drugs in the storage warehouse of the Livestock Service Office of South Sumatra Province is also in limited condition, because it is prepared for needs in other regencies and cities.

"Yes, that's the problem, so veterinarians are forced to give human drugs such as paracetamol and amoxicillin to cows exposed to FMD as an alternative measure," he said in Palembang, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, June 8.

He explained that the Palembang City Government was consulting with the Directorate of Animal Health of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Lampung Veterinary Center, and the Indonesian Veterinary Drug Association (ASOHI) to immediately obtain a supply of the drug.

Due to the lack of stock of these medicines, the number of cows exposed to FMD in Palembang has continued to increase since this past week, even reaching more than a thousand heads.

"If the medicine is not given immediately, of course it can also die, especially the area of exposure will be wider as is happening now," he said.

Therefore, Sayuti said, the Palembang City Government promised to continue to work on solving this PMK problem.

Chairman of the Indonesian Veterinary Association (PDHI) South Sumatra, Jafrizal said the medicines needed included antihistamines, vitamins and fever reducers.

It is hoped that each of these medicines can be immediately provided to streamline the healing efforts of cows exposed to FMD, which have been spread evenly to all farms in Palembang.

The distribution area includes cattle farms in the Sekojo, Talang Jambe, Keramasan, Gandus, Sukawinatan, Sako, and Sukajaya areas.

"Yes... the condition is that we found that during the past week many cows were exposed to FMD, and this has been almost evenly distributed in all cattle farming areas in Palembang City," he said.

He added that the number of cows that were exposed was influenced by the inaccuracy of the breeders in bringing in from outside the region and the loosening of restrictions on livestock transport traffic, where the cattle imported came from regions where the level of exposure to FMD was high, including Ogan Ilir, Ogan Komering. Ulu (OKU).

In fact, the breeders have been advised to tighten the health checks of the cattle they order and are even required not to bring in cows from outside the region, which are not accompanied by a certificate of health resulting from a medical examination.

"So this is the impact, if there are still cattle that are imported secretly, for example from Tanjung Raja, Ogan Ilir, where the level of exposure is high. Because PMK is a virus, so if only one cow is infected, it will quickly spread, even in a 3 kilometer radius," he said.

Therefore, he hopes that the obstacles found in the field can be responded to by the government so that a fatal condition does not occur, namely the mass death of cows, which then affects the lack of cattle supply for Eid al-Adha 1443 Hijriyah in July.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Palembang Lestari Business Cattle Breeders Cooperative, Yani said, his party noted that the overall data collected from the farmers was around 1,500 cows exposed to FMD.

"The total number is around 1,500 cows, specifically for the Sukajaya area, from Sukawinatan, Suak Bato, Ponorogo, to Talang Jering, there are 150 cows exposed to FMD," he said.

According to him, the 150 heads consisted of ordinary, balinese, and limousine cattle which were prepared to serve as sacrificial animals.

"Including it, there are 60 Bali cattle and limousines that I keep this year also exposed to FMD because they were infected from cows from other breeders around my cage," said Yani.