NTT Provincial Government Expect VAR Support From Central Government To Prevent Rabies

Officers vaccinated dogs in Flores. BETWEEN/Fransiska Nuka

The East Nusa Tenggara Animal Husbandry Service expects support for the anti-rabies vaccine (VAR) from the central government for the handling and prevention of rabies cases so that the stock meets the needs of the local area. "Our current budget is empty so we can't buy much, therefore the central government is preparing 15 thousand vaccines to be sent to NTT just arrived in August," said Head of Animal Health and Public Health Veterinary Division of the NTT Livestock Service Melky Angsar in Kupang, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, June 7. He conveyed this related to the readiness of the NTT Livestock Service in procuring VAR for rabies-carrying animals (HPR) in the region. A total of 15 thousand VARs sent by the central government were purchased not from the APBD but from the central government through the APBN. rabies cases not only occur on the islands of Flores and Lembata, but most recently in South Central Timor Regency (TTS) on the island of Timor which resulted in one person dying. Vaccine stocks for Flores and Lembata are currently around five thousand VARs. He said that from 2022 to May 2023 there had been 14 fatalities who tested positive for rabies and finally one person died. "But I need to emphasize that the 15 thousand VARs are actually for the prevention of rabies on the islands of Flores and Lembata. While Timor Island does not, and we also do not know that Timor Island will have rabies cases, ” he said. His party admitted that they had to be patient to order more vaccines to increase the stock of VAR for the needs of the three islands.

Head of the Kupang Class I Agricultural Quarantine Center Yulius Umbu H. said last week the Governor of NTT had asked for 2,500 VARs from the Ministry of Agriculture, while vaccinations for dogs had been carried out specifically in South Central Timor Regency (TTS). He also admitted that NTT lacked VAR, so an appeal from the government to the public was needed to prevent the case from spreading further.