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AVA holds culling exercise to test readiness to contain bird flu
By Hasnita A Majid, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 10 January 2008 1053 hrs
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SINGAPORE: Some 200 officers from various agencies took part in a bird flu exercise ? "Exercise Gallus 5" ? on Thursday to test Singapore's readiness, should there be an outbreak.
Officers from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), Health Ministry (MOH) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF) were among the personnel who had been deployed to the AVA's Animal and Plant Health Centre for the exercise.
Their mission was to cull some 1,500 "infected" chickens that had arrived from the checkpoints. After culling, the chickens were sent from the Tuas Training Village to the incinerator.
Dr Maliki Osman, Parliamentary Secretary, National Development, said: "With the outbreak of bird flu in the region continuing today, the government will spare no effort in preventing bird flu in Singapore. I think what's important is also to ensure that we are able to respond quickly to stem out any potential incursion of bird flu here.
"There will always be a threat; there will always be a possibility. Today's scenario is one where we tested the possibility of a consignment coming through the checkpoints. There are other possibilities too. So we should not sit on our laurels and assume that we are protected."
Going by the procedures carried out, which included recalling emergency staff and decontaminating hazardous products, all seemed to be in order.
Participants said being familiar with the drill is a big help.
Haniman Boniram, Import-Export Inspector, AVA, said: "Most of us stick to one position - if you are a culler, you stick to being a culler and that gives you a lot of practice so you don't fumble along the way."
Desmond Tan, Food Safety Officer, AVA, said: "After all the practice we had today, we are able to handle culling as well as unloading of chickens from the truck at a much faster pace. I believe the cullers are able to proceed at a faster rate to cull all the chickens."
Singapore has five chicken farms which breed 2 million chickens, mostly for their eggs. For meat, Singapore imports live chickens from Malaysia and frozen chickens from Brazil.
The AVA has conducted a similar simulation exercise with the farms in case an outbreak occurs there. If an outbreak is detected, the area will be ring-fenced and the live poultry at that farm will be culled.
If the H5N1 virus is detected after a poultry consignment has cleared the checkpoints, the chickens will be taken to the Tuas Training Village and culled there.
Bird flu has killed about 200 people worldwide since its outbreak in Asia in 2003.
By Hasnita A Majid, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 10 January 2008 1053 hrs
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top height=60> </TD><TD class=update vAlign=top height=60><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=138 bgColor=#f6f6f6>Photos </TD><TD width=47 bgColor=#f6f6f6>1 of 1</TD><TD width=18 bgColor=#f6f6f6><INPUT id=btnPrev disabled onclick=Prev(); type=image height=15 width=18 src="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/images/butt_previous.gif" value="<< Previous"></TD><TD width=19 bgColor=#f6f6f6><INPUT id=bntPlay onclick=Play() type=image height=15 width=19 src="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/images/butt_stop.gif" value="Play - Stop"></TD><TD width=18 bgColor=#f6f6f6><INPUT id=btnNext disabled onclick=Next(); type=image height=15 width=18 src="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/images/butt_next.gif" value=" Next >> "></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD class=update> </TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
SINGAPORE: Some 200 officers from various agencies took part in a bird flu exercise ? "Exercise Gallus 5" ? on Thursday to test Singapore's readiness, should there be an outbreak.
Officers from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), Health Ministry (MOH) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF) were among the personnel who had been deployed to the AVA's Animal and Plant Health Centre for the exercise.
Their mission was to cull some 1,500 "infected" chickens that had arrived from the checkpoints. After culling, the chickens were sent from the Tuas Training Village to the incinerator.
Dr Maliki Osman, Parliamentary Secretary, National Development, said: "With the outbreak of bird flu in the region continuing today, the government will spare no effort in preventing bird flu in Singapore. I think what's important is also to ensure that we are able to respond quickly to stem out any potential incursion of bird flu here.
"There will always be a threat; there will always be a possibility. Today's scenario is one where we tested the possibility of a consignment coming through the checkpoints. There are other possibilities too. So we should not sit on our laurels and assume that we are protected."
Going by the procedures carried out, which included recalling emergency staff and decontaminating hazardous products, all seemed to be in order.
Participants said being familiar with the drill is a big help.
Haniman Boniram, Import-Export Inspector, AVA, said: "Most of us stick to one position - if you are a culler, you stick to being a culler and that gives you a lot of practice so you don't fumble along the way."
Desmond Tan, Food Safety Officer, AVA, said: "After all the practice we had today, we are able to handle culling as well as unloading of chickens from the truck at a much faster pace. I believe the cullers are able to proceed at a faster rate to cull all the chickens."
Singapore has five chicken farms which breed 2 million chickens, mostly for their eggs. For meat, Singapore imports live chickens from Malaysia and frozen chickens from Brazil.
The AVA has conducted a similar simulation exercise with the farms in case an outbreak occurs there. If an outbreak is detected, the area will be ring-fenced and the live poultry at that farm will be culled.
If the H5N1 virus is detected after a poultry consignment has cleared the checkpoints, the chickens will be taken to the Tuas Training Village and culled there.
Bird flu has killed about 200 people worldwide since its outbreak in Asia in 2003.
