West Bengal Opens First Private Veterinary College To Address Doctor Shortage

West Bengal’s first private veterinary college began operations on Friday, marking an important step towards reducing the shortage of trained professionals in the veterinary sector, according to an official statement.

India currently needs more than 1.5 lakh veterinarians, but the country has only 61,943 trained professionals. This creates a shortfall of nearly 60 per cent, as highlighted in a study published in the Indian Journal of Animal Sciences.

The requirement is expected to rise significantly to 2.84 lakh by 2040, which shows the urgent need for greater private-sector involvement in veterinary education and services in West Bengal.

The livestock sector plays a key role in the state’s economy. It contributes around 3.89 per cent to West Bengal’s

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and nearly 20.34 per cent to the agricultural GDP.

The newly opened JIS College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (JISCOVAS) has been built on a 30-acre campus in Mogra in the Hooghly district. The formal announcement of the college’s launch was made by the group Managing Director Sardar Taranjit Singh.

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The college is affiliated with the West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences (WBUAFS) and is recognised by the Veterinary Council of India (VCI). JISCOVAS will offer the five-and-a-half-year Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry (B.V.Sc. and A.H.) degree, which includes a mandatory one-year internship. The institute has set an annual intake capacity of 80 students.

For admission, candidates must qualify in NEET and must have secured 50 per cent marks in physics, chemistry, biology and English at the Class 12 level for the general category. The eligible age for applicants is between 18 and 25 years.

(With inputs from PTI)