RAB streamlines sell of Vet drugs

Rwanda Agricultural Board in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture plans to withdraw veterinary drugs that are resistant to ticks. RAB leadership and the Agriculture Ministry have summoned all dealers in veterinary medicine to inform them about the development.Dr Otto Vianney Muhinda, the Director of Veterinary Services at RAB said the body will spend six months carrying out the operation of withdrawing Deltamethrine drug. The drug has been used for months but it can’t kill the ticks. “We want to introduce two new drugs that are not resistant to ticks. We want to use Amitraz and Flumenthrine,” he said.The meeting was held on Friday in Kigali and brought together partners involved in veterinary drugs and vaccines. They met to discuss how the withdrawal can be done efficiently and how good quality vet drugs will be imported, distributed and administered.Muhinda added that for one to introduce a new drug to the market, they will have to register the drug. It will then be tested before going to the market. “We have decided that all vet shops be registered within six months,” he said.Dr Lambert Muhire, from the inspectorate department at the Ministry of Agriculture said veterinary pharmacies in the country have not been regulated well in the past. “In this meeting, we have asked the traders, importers and retailers dealing in vet products and vaccines to form an umbrella body that brings them together,” he explained.He said the stakeholders agreed to start an umbrella body that will regulate the operations of this trade. “The stakeholders want to form a body that will oversee the work of all veterinary sector in the country. For anyone to start vet business, they have to go through that body,” he added.Recently, there were reports of counterfeit vet drugs in Gasabo District, which RAB officials say were posing a serious threat to livestock in the country.