Doctors must be taught to fight the flu before it strikes.

Taking the war against the virus a step further, the state government has decided to put veterinary doctors through a crash course on how to combat bird flu. After being briefed on the affliction, its symptoms and its treatment, the trained vets will visit various hatcheries and run a health check on the chickens.

“We have decided to take these measures though the virus attack has not been felt in this country,” state health secretary Asim Barman said after a meeting on Monday with Union health secretary J.V.R. Prasad Rao.

A training programme for the first batch of vets associated with the state government will begin soon at the Belgachhia-based West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences.

The programme will include veterinary doctors from every district, who will then pass on their knowhow to other vets in their vicinity.

“This will lead to a huge number of vets learning about the virus. We have realised that ignorance is the main reason behind a lot of confusion over bird flu. If these doctors have a thorough knowledge of the potential problem, then they will be able to clear the confusion and inspire confidence in others,” said Barman.

At Monday’s meeting — also attended by chief secretary Asok Gupta, director of health services Prabhakar Chatterjee, director of medical education C.R. Maity and animal resources development secretary Subesh Das — it was decided that confidence-building among those running hatcheries, as well as the common consumer, must be the government’s focus.

Barman said the government would continue to keep a vigil on all measures earlier adopted to combat bird flu in the state.

The stringent checks will stay in place until further instructions from the World Health Organisation.

Animal resources development minister Anisur Rahman and senior officials of the health department have already repeatedly appealed to the people to not stop consuming eggs and chicken, as long as they were well-cooked. Approximately 150,000 kg of chicken was being consumed every day in Calcutta before the bird flu fright spread.

The government has opened an internal control room in a city office at Belgachhia for officials of the animal resources development department to coordinate with other district officers.

A special committee, comprising officials from the health and animal resources development departments, has also been formed.