Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, Fisheries, and Labour department Balbir Singh Sidhu on Tuesday said that Punjab Government is committed to strengthening the livestock sector in the state which is more remunerative and provides a regular flow of the income and employment to small and marginal farmers.Inaugurating a four-day International Workshop Focusing on “Antimicrobial Resistance and Strategies for its Mitigation” at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Sidhu emphasized the important role played by Animal Husbandry sector and underlined the significance of misuse of antibiotic in the animals that can be a potential threat to the human population also. He exhorted the scientists to suggest possible remedies to curtail the menace of antibiotic resistance (AR).Total 55 researchers including18 researchers representing 15 different countries are participating in this conference.Dr. AS Nanda, University’s Vice-Chancellor stressed upon the economic impact of the disease outbreaks due to Superbugs and their adverse effects on the medical tourism of any country. He further emphasized the problem of AR is of global concern rather than a country-specific issue. He lauded the efforts made by scientists here in the area of AR research.
Dr. Arun P. Kulshreshtha, Director General of Centre for Science and Technology of the Non-Aligned and other Developing Countries (NAM S & T Centre), New Delhi, speaking on the occasion impressed upon the fact that the problem of AR has raised dangerously high levels, specifically in the developing nations. He was hopeful that the ongoing workshop will definitely come out with a promising and positive resolution for the direction in the study of AR. He revealed that NAM S & T Centre sponsors fellowships for research across the different countries around the globe.Dr. JPS Gill, Director of Research of university delivered the keynote address on the AR and current issues being faced nationally as well as internationally. Dr. AK Arora, Coordinator of the workshop was of the view that varsity is a lead institute in the area of AR research and significant research is being carried out on the molecular and genetic aspects.Dr. TS Rai Organizing, Secretary of the workshop and others were also present on this occasion.