Medicine is one of the most important areas of study in the world. Medical doctors, the world over, are playing significant roles each day by working tirelessly to save lives. The recent pandemic has even made them more important and indispensable than ever. The name ‘Doctor’ has become a preserve for only the medical practitioner who diagnoses and prescribes medicines to sick people and also offer advice on lifestyle choices that will make them healthy.
Whilst the medical doctor is so important, the veterinary surgeon or the veterinary doctor is often not given the needed recognition. Most people believe the work of the veterinary doctor is only to take care of animals. Is that the case?
The Vaultz News engaged Dr. William Berko Asamoah, a member of the Veterinary Medical Association of Ghana. He journeyed us through the insightful roles played by the vets in our society.
Who is Veterinary Doctor?
In a layman’s view, Dr. Asamoah described a veterinary surgeon as a medical professional who protects the health and wellbeing of animals and the general public. He further explained that the veterinary surgeon is a medical professional whose exclusive expertise is in protecting animal health and wellbeing and also, serves as an intermediary between human beings and animal health.
“So, generally, the veterinary surgeon plays a multi-functional role. Their main concern is on the health of the animals and how the health of the animals affects public health.”
Dr. Asamoah revealed that statistics have shown that a lot of the diseases that human beings battle are zoonotic infections. This he noted during the conversation to be about 70%.
“Zoonotic infections are infections that are transmitted from animals to humans. So, the veterinary surgeon plays a key role not only on the side of the animals but also on humans.”
Roles of the Veterinary Doctor
According to Dr. Asamoah, veterinary doctors also play a key role in the fight against zoonotic infections. He noted that veterinary surgeons serve as a link with the human physicians to control and prevent zoonotic infections. He then cited Ebola as one example of a zoonotic disease.
“… Veterinary Doctors play roles in the medical field because they have knowledge in both animal and human health. They play a role in animal treatment, prevention of disease on animals, surgical procedures, and other general medical interventions.”
Dr. Asamoah further highlighted that the veterinary surgeon plays a key role in public health and inspection of on-farm and in-slaughter houses, prevention and control of animal diseases. He further added that the vet also plays a role in both active and passive surveillance.
“In fact, in every slaughterhouse, there supposed to be a veterinary officer whose duty is to make sure that the health of the animal is in a good state before it is slaughtered. The processing and the distribution of animals, pre-slaughter and the post-slaughter activities are all taken care of by the veterinary surgeon.”
Other roles
Since most of us consume meat produced locally, it is very vital for us as consumers to want to know if the abattoirs we have in the country have enough veterinary officers who will ensure that animals are slaughtered under the right hygienic procedures so as not to pose a threat to consumers. When questioned as to whether Ghana has enough vets in our slaughterhouses, Dr. Asamoah said;
“For the major slaughterhouses I know in Ghana, there are veterinarians”.
Dr. Asamoah also noted that because of the zoonotic infections, veterinarians also play a key role in wildlife.
“And in the field of public health, I think we [veterinary doctors] are consulted more on zoonotic infections than our counterparts in the other fields. So, there is a broad spectrum of roles that the veterinarians play as far as the medical field is concerned”.
Ghana’s Limited Case
Dr. Asamoah bemoaned the limited number of veterinary doctors in the country. According to him, this makes it very difficult for people who need them to constantly have access to them. He explained that formally veterinarians were not trained in Ghana and many veterinarians were trained outside the country like Cuba.
“The nation is short of veterinarians. The ratio is very low. Ideally, every district is supposed to have a veterinary doctor. But as it stands now, we have a few in the system”.
To conclude, the roles highlighted above are just some of the many roles played by the veterinary doctor. During emergencies, the veterinary doctor can as well treat human beings as they have the expertise to do that.
