Chitwan, November 19:

Doctors and health experts here today said that there is no possibility of an outbreak of avian flu in Nepal and that it was just a rumour that the disease had been spotted in the country.

Speaking at an interaction programme organised by the Chicken Entrepreneurs yesterday in Chitwan, experts said endemic of bird flu in Nepal is impossible. Dr Tilchandra Bhattarai, member secretary of the programme and the president of Chicken Entrepreneurs Forum said: “There might not be any possibility of bird flu if we conduct regular monitoring and bio-technology. We need to tighten cross-border movement of chicken.” Professor Dr IP Dhakal of Institute of Agricultural and Veterinary Science, Rampur, said: “There is no possibility of occurrence of bird flu in Nepal and that the government has to be conscious and act promptly to stop such an outbreak in Nepal.”

He said the government of Nepal has to take help of experts to tackle the possible problem.

The sale of chicken and other poultry products have gone down in the present days because of the rumours of the spread of bird flu in Nepal, Guna Chandra Bista, Chairman of Nepal Hatchery Organisation said. “The Ministry of Health, Veterinary Service Department and entrepreneurs have worked together to develop a mechanism to prevent the disease of bird flu from being imported to Nepal. Bird flu Prevention committees will also be established throughout the nation shortly, for the same purpose,” he said. A special campaign has been launched to inspect occurrence of any disorder among the migratory birds at the Bishajari Lake area, Koshi Tappu and Ghodaghodi lakes and confirm any bird flu case in Nepal, Nepal Hatchery Organisation’s Bista said.

More than one lakh chickens are being produced in the nation daily and 150,000 kg chicken meat and 1.5 million eggs are being consumed each day. Meanwhile, issuing a statement yesterday, Chicken Entrepreneurs of Chitwan informed the public about the methods to control the spread of avian flu. The government and chicken entrepreneurs are regularly monitoring and alerting farmers to control the endemic of bird flu , the statement said. The statement has also urged all consumers to use chicken without suspicion.