Malaysia Veterinary Forum (Archive)

Dr. TanDY

Just to share with you an old yet interesting article about veterinary practice in Malaysia.

****************************************

Pet Peeve

Source: The Star

Date: 22 Nov 2005

In this fast advancing global world of ours, the practice of veterinary medicine and surgery in Malaysia seems to be at an all-time low with the sprouting of so-called veterinary clinics owned by pet shops, lay people or by veterinary assistants or veterinary kennel hands who have no knowledge of the high level of professionalism needed to run a veterinary practice.

These people either act as veterinarians themselves or employ veterinarians whose annual practicing licenses are then hung up in the clinic as showpieces.

As a small animal practitioner myself, I am aware that the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1974 states clearly that veterinarians can only work for veterinarians in the practice of veterinary medicine and surgery.

During the Annual General Meeting of the Malaysian Small Animal Veterinary Association, it was brought to our notice that the committee had forwarded many complaints to the Malaysian Veterinary Council regarding bogus veterinarians.

I notice that no action has been taken because more of these dubious practices have sprung up in Port Dickson, Nilai, Bangi, Johor Baru and Kuala Lumpur, to name a few.

The saddest part is when veterinary assistants in government veterinary clinics, while carrying out their official duties under the supervision of the veterinarian in charge, are working like veterinarians themselves diagnosing cases, giving injections, prescribing medication and performing surgeries.

They even take pride in being called “doctors” by the non-discerning public. Why has the Department of Veterinary Services allowed this to go on in the public and private sectors?

There are enough young graduates from Universiti Putra Malaysia to fill the vacancies. If they can gain employment in the government sector, they can replace the veterinary assistants.

If we, as veterinarians, do not take pride in our profession and uphold our dignity and integrity, who will do it for us?

I hope the chairman of the Malaysian Veterinary Council will look into this matter to weed out the bad hats and not just act against the veterinarians who work for these people. When the veterinarian is reprimanded by the council and leaves the job, the layman will just go to another veterinarian because there seems to be so many of them around.

- Concerned Veterinarian

Dr. TanDY · Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:53 pm Post subject:

Please private message me if anyone knows who wrote the above article... He/she is such a good writer :-P

Dr Nat · Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 1834 Location: Klang Valley

I think that no action has been taken against them because they are still "legal". That only shows a great need for an updated version of our Veterinary Surgeons Act!

Dr. TanDY · Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 11:59 pm Post subject:

Dr Nat wrote: That only shows a great need for an updated version of our Veterinary Surgeons Act!

It's in process though... Heard someone is working on it... Will keep everyone update once I have more info.

If anyone happens to know the latest issue on updating the Veterinary Surgeons Act, share with us!

Dr. TanDY · Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2006 7:26 pm Post subject:

Found it!

This article was written by Dr Vanaja. (source from latest Veterinary Association Malaysia (VAM)'s Newsletter)

Thanks Doc, for telling the public down-to-earth story about veterinary practice in Malaysia.

lcs · Joined: 05 Jul 2006 Posts: 65

so impressing the article. maybe my english level was not that good to write the article,but what have been written is true. this is bcoz i have gone thru the student practical at jph, the VET assistant was administer the drug without carry out a proper diagnoses. i was really shock when i see this with my own eye. they dont even know what actually the drug can be used for. it's ashame to see such practice exist in our country. all the public do think they are vet and all the things they did represent a vet, inclucde all the bad practice. one thing that i can be sure is all case sent there,
the assistant sure will give antibiotic, sure will give multivit. all skin disease they sure will think of using ivermectin. all the drug they used on the patient is like 'try and see'. in malay word mention as 'kaedah cuba cuba'.hoping it can hit the target like gambling i think. i do hope the condition will improve in future.. hopefully.....

Dr Nat · Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 1834 Location: Klang Valley

Do they even take into consideration what type of antibiotic they give? Or what dosage of ivermectin they used? If used improperly, sometimes the animal may still recover. However, using the wrong choice of drugs or the wrong dosage could lead to other serious complications or long term effects, for example internal organ damage. This kind of damage might not be seen instantly, but would be detrimental to the animal in the future.

varanus · Joined: 12 Feb 2006 Posts: 469

What can the president of MVC do if the all the vets are not working together? Vets are fighting among themselves, that why opportunists are taking advantage.

Dr Kenny Chong · Joined: 16 May 2006 Posts: 100 Location: K.L.

What has been mentioned by lcs is true. It is a shame that all this things were done by people in the veterinary department. Most of the time, the vet in charge of the clinic was not there. When clients sent their dogs or cats, guess who will be treating the patience?

lcs · Joined: 05 Jul 2006 Posts: 65

VARANUS, NOW WE JUZ LEAVE ALL THE FIGHTING MATTER AMONG THE VET BEHIND.
THE MOJOR PROBLEM HERE IS THE VET ASSISTANT IN THE GOVERMENT SERVICE (jpH).
MAYBE THE MEDICINE THEY GIVEN MAYBE RIGHT IN THE SENCE OF DOSAGE, BUT THEY ALWAYS GIVE A INFO TO THE CLIENT.
THE JPH ALWAYS SAY THERE DON HAV ENOUGH VET TO HANDLE THE CLINIC, IF LIKE THAT WHY NOT THEY JUZ STOP THE SERVICE.? JUZ IMAGINE, WHEN U GO TO A CLINIC, THE PERSON TREATING U IS NOT A DR, WILL YOU STILL SITTING THERE AND WAIT THE TRATMENT FROM THEM.??
I DON THINK SUCH SERVICE SHOULD BE EXIST IN OUR COUNTRY. ALL THE CLINIC IN JPH SHOULD HAV AT LEAST ONE VET. IF THEY DON HAV A VET, THEY SHOULD TOLD THE PUBLIC, WE CANT PROVIDE A VET HERE AND ONLY CAN GIVE ""NORMAL OR ROUTINE""" TREATMENT.
I HOPE ACTION CAN BE TAKEN IF NOT "THEY" JUZ LIKE ROTTEN APPLES AMONG THE VET.
THE VET ASSISTANCE SHOULD ALWAYS MAKE THEMSELF CLEAR AND TOLD THE PUBLIC WHO THEY ARE. AND NOT JUZ STAND THERE TOUCHING A CAT OR DOG, AND TALK TO THE CLIENT ARRRRR" I THINK YOUR CAT DEMAM LA!" AND GIVING ANTIBIOTIC OR INJECT IVERMECTIN. THEY DON EVEN EDUCATE THE CLIENT...
I REALLY REALLY WORRY, ALL THE PUBLIC THINK THAT ALL THE VET GIVING TREATMENT IN SUCH WAY.....

Dr. TanDY · Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 5:55 am Post subject:

Dear lcs,

Please be fair to JPH. There are many good vets in the JPH too and not all of them are vet assistants.

varanus · Joined: 12 Feb 2006 Posts: 469

Please turn of the cap. It is generally considered you are mad using cap.

BTW you are just a student, it doesn't make you gain a lot by criticise them. One thing for sure they have a lot of working experience, might not be right one, but definitely more experience and know more than a student. Try not to think that final year student or top scorer will know a lot as compare to others because you will finally realize you know very little when you come to work. Trust me.

One more thing, like Dr Tan said, not all AVO or VA in JPH are bad. There are many who are very good and experience. They know what very well what they are doing and some even better than a Dr. Imagine they are doing the same procedure like pregnancy diagnosis for 30 years, they are definitely very good as compare to a dr with 3 years experience inserting hand into the cows back side. Be careful of your words. You can't condemn the whole lot just because of a few. There are final year student giving consultation during some event especially Dogathon, can I safely say all the students are shit. No because there are very good one and there are bad and irresponsible one. Your lecturers don't want student to voice any opinion or consultation because whatever you said is a responsibility.

p/s: What I was trying to say previously was to get all the vets to work together.

Dr csh · Joined: 21 Jan 2006 Posts: 425

Hmmm interesting discussion.... for the vet assistants in JPH, you have to understand that they are not vets. I'm sure many are not even DKHP so they are not even proper 'para-professionals'. We have a serious lack of veterinary service in rural areas. So what can we really expect? of course the service is not 'top-notch'. Yet, common problems occur commonly and after seeing 100 mange cases, most people are able to tell even without a vet education and all they have to remember is Ivermectin and look up the dose in books or on the label. Is it right to turn a blind eye? No it is not! The next question is what are you going to do about it? I applaud your enthusiasm and I hope you will be able to improve the situation.

lcs · Joined: 05 Jul 2006 Posts: 65

maybe i dhould use the small capital letter. i apologise for that. no point argue here. maybe i'st my fault to view up this point. hopefully for someone who is qualify try to make a visit there(jph) small animal clinic without acknowledge that u are a vet and sound out. not jph in big city like kl or pg but in smaller sity la. sorry!!!!

Dr Nat · Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 1834 Location: Klang Valley

Actually, the JPH is the authority that's suppose to make checks and investigate people practicing without licences (or for anything/anyone going against the Vet Surgeon's Act).