Principal Secretary in the Ministry Dr Andrew Tuimur. [Photo|Courtesy]
The Ministry of Livestock is in the process of setting up a Veterinary Medicines Directorate to curb misuse of vet drugs.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry Dr Andrew Tuimur said the veterinary profession has been hijacked by quacks.
Tuimur said that there is an extensive misuse of veterinary drugs through poor diagnosis and administration of products.
“This is the only profession in Kenya where every one wants to erk a living, selling drugs to farmers does not make one a professional. We must crack th whip on these people,” he said.
He said that his ministry is fighting off opposition to set up the directorate to streamline the veterinary pharmaceutical sector.
Speaking to the press in the sidelines of a conference on rabies in Kisumu on Thursday, the PS asked the Kenya Veterinary Board to in the meantime launch crackdown on operators selling harmful drugs to livestock farmers.
He said that there are numerous reports of some quack veterinary doctors using fake drugs to vaccinate animals’ thus exposing farmers to greater losses.
“My office continue to receive numerous complaints from farmers and it is time there issues are addressed once and for all,” he said.
Tuimur said the problem of antimicrobial resistance among cattle thrived because of rampant misuse of veterinary drugs and chemicals in the country.