Minister Yumaklı, who later made an evaluation to members of the press, pointed out that the institute has worldwide accreditation with nearly a century of experience.
Underlining that the studies carried out in this center are taken as a basis by many countries, Yumaklı gave the following information:
“We have 19 laboratories operating under three headings here. These are our laboratories that work on disease diagnosis for bees, cattle, sheep and all other animals. Our second group laboratories operate from antigen production for treatment to vaccine production. The third group is our control and analysis laboratories. These 3 laboratories are active in combating animal diseases in Turkey as well as responding to some international demands. In particular, they respond to requests by checking and testing samples coming here not only from all over Turkey but also from around the world.
The Doping Laboratory here is one of the few centers in the world. Both the doping control for horses in Turkey and the analysis of samples from around the world are also carried out in our laboratories here. “I would like to state that it is an internationally acceptable laboratory.”
FIGHT AGAINST ANIMAL DISEASES
Minister Yumaklı stated that the most important part of the fight against animal diseases is to diagnose them, develop tools for their treatment and develop policies in the fight against animal diseases with the analysis made.
Describing the Etlik Veterinary Control Central Institute as 'an extremely important center with international validity in Turkey in this sense', Yumaklı said, "We have determined one of the most important topics of the livestock road map as the fight against animal diseases. Therefore, the fight against animal diseases, which cause extremely high economic losses, must be handled as a whole in terms of both experience and technology. Therefore, as of today, we continue our fight against animal diseases in this central research institute, where we have this capacity, this ability, our highly developed laboratories, and our highly experienced colleagues.”
OVER 700 THOUSAND TESTS AND ANALYSIS PER YEAR
Underlining that more than 700 thousand tests and analyzes are carried out annually in the laboratories at the center, Yumaklı stated that not only the samples coming from Turkey are tested or analyzed, but also the samples coming from different countries of the world are tested and analyzed.
Minister Yumaklı pointed out that countries with such equipped centers are in an advantageous position regarding animal diseases and said:
“This center has provided very important support to these studies, especially from the moment the COVID pandemic began in our country. We hope and wish that such a thing will not be needed. However, I think it is important for our citizens to know this. Having such a center is a huge gain for our country. Again, I would like to underline that it operates as a center where our friends, who are highly experienced, talented and have a high capacity, both in terms of technology and knowledge and experience, work and conduct research.”
Emphasizing that veterinarians have a very important place not only in terms of animal diseases but also in the health system, Minister Yumaklı congratulated all veterinarians on World Veterinary Day.
CENTURIES OF EXPERIENCE
The Rinderpest Serum Production Institution (Veba-i Bakari Seromu Dar-ül-istihzarı), which is considered the beginning of the Veterinary Control Central Institute, was operating in Eskişehir during the War of Independence, but due to the war, it was first transferred to Ankara and then to the Bozkaya region of Kırşehir province. After the Sakarya war, it was moved to its current location in Etlik in 1921 under the name of Serum Production Institution and the production of rinderpest serum began.
The development of the Institute continues until today and it continues its activities with 19 laboratories and support units. The institute provides services on animal health and zoonotic diseases to the provinces in its service area (Ankara, Eskişehir, Bolu, Zonguldak, Bartın, Karabük, Kastamonu, Çankırı and Kırıkkale), and on some specific disease analyzes throughout the country.
The diagnosis of Leptospirosis, an important zoonotic and fatal disease in humans that cannot be performed in any laboratory or health institution in our country, is made in the Spirochet Diseases Laboratory within the Institute, and the Ministry of Health also benefits from this service. Rabies titration tests of pets to be taken abroad are carried out at the institute.
The center carries out production activities with Anthrax Vaccine Production Laboratory (Established 1927), Tuberculin and Mallein Production Laboratory (Established 1928) and Viral Vaccine Production Laboratory (Established 1967).
As the first accredited laboratories in its field in our country, the Institute has been operating in accordance with the TS ISO EN 2003 quality system since 17025. Internationally accredited tests and analyzes are carried out in the center, which currently has accreditation for 85 tests-analysis and examinations and 153 analytes.
