Animal Health Computer System spreading wings

A SYSTEM that supports the animal health and welfare activities carried out by the Department of Agriculture and Food has gone further along the hi-tech route.

Minister Joe Walsh announced that the Animal Health Computer System (AHCS) was now live in nine of the Department’s district veterinary offices, the brucellosis laboratory in Cork and in the Department’s headquarters in Dublin. The system will be extended to the remaining offices over the coming months.

He said the AHCS replaces the current standalone system which has been in place since the late 1980s and provides a greater range of functionality by taking advantage of the latest computer technologies.

The system, which initially will be used to implement the disease eradication schemes, provides significant efficiencies in the gathering and use of data.

It also incorporates private veterinary practitioners and the Department’s blood testing laboratory, facilitating the direct electronic capture of test data in respect of all animals and enabling the Department to process disease test results more speedily and efficiently. This enhances the Department’s ability to manage disease testing programmes more effectively.

Minister Walsh said the AHCS augments other computer systems developed by the Department in recent years, particularly those relating to cattle traceability and provides further assurance regarding the safety and quality of Irish produce.

From the outset, the system will share data with a number of other Department systems including the cattle movement monitoring system and the bovine tagging and registration system.

Minister Walsh said the AHCS represented a major investment and formed part of the Department’s overall IT strategy to redevelop all its major computer systems.

The new system uses the latest Internet technology and allows private veterinary practitioners to interact with the Department’s computer system and to input data directly onto its database.

Minister Walsh said he was pleased with the co-operation to date from veterinary practitioners. He anticipated that a majority of them will fully embrace the new system given the benefits that it will bring to their own operations.