Vetnews | Oktober 2024 18 « BACK TO CONTENTS Role of Veterinary Extension Advisory and Telehealth Services during COVID - 19 Pandemic Period Chethan G N1, Senthilkumar R2, Bimal P Bashir3 and Anjali K Babu4 Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Pookode, Wayanad (Kerala) Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University ABSTRACT Advent in developments of communication technologies has benefited a wide variety of sectors endlessly. These impacts have generously been found towards veterinary health and extension advisory services. Telehealth services in the veterinary sector have existed even before, but their prominence has been recognised during the pandemic. A study was conducted about Telehealth and extension advisory services. The data were collected through a semistructured interview schedule among randomly selected Senior Veterinary Surgeons and Project Coordinators from the Department of Animal Husbandry, Kerala and analysed using descriptive statistics and rank order technique. The mean age and working experience of respondents were 52.23 and 26.73 years, respectively. The majority (70%) of respondents were male and possessed maximum educational qualification of B.V.Sc. & AH. Medicine cases (including emergencies), gynaecology & obstetrics and deworming & immunization were found to be most delivered among telehealth services, followed by farm consultancy/advisory. Extension activities and livestock & products marketing were found to be next in its ranking. The majority of respondents had a less favourable followed by a highly favourable attitude towards the extension advisory services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Major constraints perceived to provide telehealth services were, assessing animal health condition without physical examination and insufficient technical / network support for consultation. Most respondents opined that ensuring timely veterinary aid to animals along with telehealth services, strengthening technical and network support and organising capacitybuilding programmes to overcome difficulties in providing telehealth Services. The present finding depicted the importance of preparedness for future pandemic crises and also helps to develop strategies to improve access to veterinary health and extension advisories. INTRODUCTION Telehealth is an overarching term that encompasses all uses of technology to remotely gather and deliver health information, advice, education, and care. The AVMA classified the various functions of telehealth into subcategories tele-advice, telemedicine, teleconsulting, telemonitoring, mHealth or mobile health, telecommunication, tele-triage, tele-supervision, e-VFD (e-Veterinary Feed Directive), and eprescription (AVMA, 2021; Watson et al, 2019). Wearable biosensors are important application that benefits telehealth by providing the opportunity to improve animal healthcare services in a quality manner. Utilising these precise wearable sensor technologies along with tracking smartphone apps can monitor health parameters efficiently; thereby providing faster and more accurate medical assistance distantly (Neethiraj, 2017; Watson et al, 2019). The new risks that threaten the livelihood of small farm holders have been brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic (Alagukannan et al, 2020), by imposing restrictions which disrupted the supply chains and essential services (Neetha and Prema, 2020), it also created the most urgent platform for change that the veterinary profession has ever seen (Manketlow 2021). Telehealth has emerged as a crucial tool for protecting animals, their owners and veterinary professionals during the time of increased COVID-19 threat. These telehealth facilitates helped in halting the spread of COVID-19, by providing tele-consultation and also by providing physical consultation to selected animals which is essentially needed. The benefits of telehealth in human and veterinary practice are assumed to be similar. It includes; better service to their patients even in remote areas, improved access to specialists and their services, supporting isolated doctors, cost and time-effective, overcoming shortages of veterinarians, delivering awareness, and education and facilitating research (Mars and Auer 2006). In comparison to the human health sector, veterinary and animal husbandry had the uniqueness of managing animal health, welfare and enterprise profitability goes hand in hand. Hence, telehealth and extension advisory services are functioning in an interlinked manner. The social responsibility of extension advisory services is preparing communities to deal with shocks such as human, animal, or plant disease or pest outbreaks; and they are key partners in response as these shocks unfold; and in recovery, developing resilience in communities and food production systems after crises (Benjamin et al, 2020) MATERIALS AND METHODS The role of Veterinary Extension Advisory and Telehealth Services during the COVID-19 pandemic period was studied among 30 Senior Veterinary Surgeons and Project Coordinators from the Department of Animal Husbandry, Kerala. The semi-structured interview schedule was developed in consulting with subject matter specialists and available publications, which was pre-tested among the nonsampling study population. The data were collected by a researcher through direct interviews with randomly selected 30 respondents. Constraints perceived and possible solutions to provide telehealth services were studied with a five-point continuum scale. Collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics and the rank order technique. The attitude towards extension advisory services during COVID-19 was assessed among respondents by adopting the unidimensional scale developed by Divya et al (2022) with suitable modifications. Individual attitude score was obtained by summing up the individual scores for each statement. Based on the Dalenius-Hodges cumulative square root F (DHCSRF) method the respondents were classified into less favourable (36-44), favourable (45-50) and highly favourable (51-62) attitudes possessed towards Veterinary Extension Advisory services. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The socio-demographic characteristics of the participants were, among the total of 30 respondents, the majority of them were male (70.00%), the average age of respondents was 52.23 years, while the average working experience was 26.73 years. The majority (86.66%) of respondents have possessed education up to graduation level (B.VSc & AH) and 6.66 per cent each of respondent possessed M.VSc and PG Diploma. Extension Advisory and Telehealth Services classification Medicine cases (Including emergencies), gynaecology & obstetrics and deworming & immunization were found to be most delivered among telehealth services, followed by farm consultancy/advisory, extension activities (training/ demonstration/ field visits/ meetings) and livestock products marketing were the extension advisory services delivered
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