Oh fish!

Did you know that India now has two fish hospitals? Yes, you read it right; no typo error; fish hospital.

The first one was opened in Kolkatta in 2015 and we now have another new one in Kashmir.

These hospitals essentially are used to treat abnormalities and diseases in fish. Nearly 60-65 kinds of disease and abnormality were found in fishes in India and the one reason why West Bengal slipped from the number one position in fish production was due to the fact that 10-20 per cent of them died of diseases. Such hospitals are quite common in foreign countries.

The new one in Kashmir came up after local farmers started complaining about trout dying of unknown reasons. This was naturally a cause of worry as Jammu and Kashmir has some 513 trout farmers, who produce over 20,000 tonnes of fish annually.

The fish hospital in Kashmir has set up 20 glass tanks and aquariums that provide different treatments to sick fish. Some tanks are used for antibiotic, antiparasitic and antiviral medications. There are quarantine tanks, too, to acclimatise the fish admitted to the hospital. An experimental fish farm is also associated with the hospital beside a cell culture facility, an aqua clinic and a pathology laboratory.

In today’s time where even a human life seems to be no value, such a humane approach towards fish, even if the aim is to benefit humans is a great step ahead.