• 
• 

Published on July 8, 2007

Pongsak Kummalue, a former veterinarian who became an RFID provider for animals as general manager of Advanced Identification Corporation, said the idea behind the collaboration is to provide identification for pets, especially dogs, in order to more easily trace their medical treatment and health records.

The company has been working with Mittare Insurance to apply this concept to selected animals whose owners are willing to pay extra for their pet's identification.

The company has provided low-frequency (134MHz) and passive RFID chips to around 70 to 80 Mittare pet clinics nationwide.

"We have deployed around 7,000 to 8,000 chips," said Pongsak.

The animal identification system incorporates a microchip RFID transponder which has a unique number programmed into its memory. The microchip is implanted into an animal, usually under the skin between the shoulder blades in a dog or cat, and the owners' details together with information about the animal is logged onto the central database.

Dogs are divided into three types for insurance purposes, dogs with special ability, dogs with registered pedigree (according to the Association of Dog's Pedigree of Thailand), and non-pedigree dogs.

The company delivers the RFID chip, packed in a tube, to contracted Mittare clinics nationwide. Each RFID chip has a unique code. Once the veterinarian injects the RFID chip into dog's ear.

This ID will be kept in that clinic's database.

Further treatments and health records of the animal will also be recorded in the clinic's database. "If the dog dies under the conditions of an insurance policy, the owner will be paid. RFID chips help insurance companies provide life insurance for pets as well as assisting owners to keep their pet's health records," said Pongsak.

This kind of service is popular in many countries, and it is now beginning in Thailand. It can be applied for use for other domestic animals, such as cats, elephants and chickens.

"Now people who keep dogs have the choice to give the animals better health and treatment with the slight added cost of an RFID tube, around Bt100," said Pongsak.

Asina Pornwasin

The Nation