Vet on call: Know well your animal health service provider

The phrase “you should know people” rings a bell in the minds of many Kenyans, as it is seemingly a warning that you may end up in hot soup if you do not recognise an important person.

For livestock farmers, this phrase is turning out to be very important as the sector grapples with increase in fake veterinary officers.

Farmers should know their animal health and production service providers.

And they should know that they are the employers of all the service providers, whether working for the government, dairy cooperatives or running their own veterinary businesses.

In the last two weeks, I have been inundated by calls from farmers across the country asking three broad questions.

The first set asked, “Doctor, how can I tell the difference between all the veterinary doctors available to us in the rural areas?”

The second group wondered how they can recognise qualified veterinary doctors while the last asked what they can do to ensure they get quality services.

These questions reminded me of “Dr” Ajuai years back when I was starting.

Ajuai was famous among dairy cattle farmers in Nairobi’s Garden Estate in the mid-1990s as he could “look at a cow from a distance and give a cure-all injection fished out of his pocket”.

One day while passing by my farmer friend’s house, I found a bald-headed man doing a caesarean section on a cow.

From his surgical motions, demeanour and the position of the surgical incision, I was certain the guy was not a veterinary surgeon.

DELIVERY OF ANIMAL HEALTH SERVICES

After finishing the job, Ajuai told the farmer to give the cow 10 litres of fermented sorghum flour porridge twice a day for two days. That was the weirdest prescription I had heard in my six years of veterinary practice.

The cow died that night. “Dr” Ajuai was later traced, investigated and found to be a fraudster. The matter was handed over to the police. Kenya Veterinary Board (KVB) has since been given powers to prosecute fraudsters like Ajuai.

Since 2011, the veterinary profession in Kenya has become one of the most regulated following the promulgation of the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Paraprofessionals (VSVP) Act 2011, which governs the delivery of animal health services.

The Act was closely followed by the VSVP Act Regulations 2013 and the Code of Ethics for Veterinary Surgeons (VS) and Veterinary Paraprofessionals (VPs).

The Code of Ethics gives the animal health service providers instructions on how they should behave with other people including employers, clients and colleagues.

The VSVP Act 2011, the Regulations and the Code of Ethics are all implemented by the KVB based at the Veterinary Research Laboratories at Kabete, Nairobi.

The KVB categorises animal health service providers into Veterinary Surgeons (VS) and Veterinary Paraprofessionals (VP).

It registers them every year and gives them identification cards that are valid for each registration year.

For VS or VP to be kept in the KVB register, they must remain up-to-date in their competence. They attend Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training and each year attain a minimum number of CPD points set by the KVB.

PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE

VS are university degree holders in veterinary medicine from a university recognised by the KVB. Therefore, veterinary medicine graduates not registered by KVB but working with farmers are doing it illegally, which is an offence punishable by law.

You must note that it is only a VS with up-to-date registration from the KVB who is allowed to use the title “doctor” in execution of their duties.

KVB issues VSs with white identification cards bearing their photograph and all registration details. The VS is the top dog in animal health service delivery.

Any other cadre must operate under the supervision, direction or instruction of a VS, with a written agreement. The VS is responsible for all errors committed by any veterinary paraprofessional under their supervision.

The veterinary paraprofessionals are further grouped into three groups by the KVB depending on their level of animal health education.

A graduate in animal health is a designated Animal Health Technologist and KVB assigns them a green identification card.

Diploma graduates are given the title Animal Health Technicians and provided a light blue identification card. Lastly, a certificate holder in animal health is also an Animal Health Technician and is given a beige identification card.

The three cadres of veterinary paraprofessionals must be fully aware of the professional competence and work as prescribed in the VSVP Act 2011.

COMPLEX TASKS

They are required by the VSVP Act 2011 Regulations of 2013 and the Code of Ethics to identify themselves and disclose their competence to farmers before providing any services.

Veterinary Paraprofessionals should refer all difficulties they cannot solve and cases above their competence to their supervising veterinary surgeon.

Only veterinary surgeons are mandated to carry out surgical procedures, specialised drug administration and issuing of animal health certificates, among other complex tasks.

Any animal health service provider who contravenes the veterinary law dreads being reported to KVB, where all cases should be reported to the KVB chief executive.

Normally, KVB reviews the complaint and get backs to the complainant. The disciplinary committee of KVB, if satisfied the service provider has a case to answer, will summon him as it investigates the case.

The complainant and the service provider are then invited for a closed door hearing by the disciplinary committee. The KVB then delivers its verdict, which can be appealed at the High Court.

KVB penalties range from a written warning to deregistration of the service provider from practising veterinary medicine both in the country and even abroad.

KVB can be reached on their reporting line 0722305253 or their website kenyavetboard.or.ke or e-mail [email protected]