• Home

Case of vanishing vets

WHILE authorities in the UAE have drawn up commendable measures to keep bird flu out of the country, there is a glaring lack of vigilance about the health hazards that could be posed by the entry of animals infected with contagious diseases by road, air and sea routes considering the fact that Veterinary Quarantines are conspicuous by their near absence.

Indeed, lack of veterinary quarantines at 12 entry points in the country is grave issue of gross negligence that may result in the influx of animals carrying contagious diseases that must ultimately affect both human and animal resources.

Compounding the insufficient number of veterinary doctors is the shocking report that the veterinary quarantine section at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is headed, dear readers catch your breath, by an agronomist (who deals in soil samples) and not a vet as the animal doctor is known.

The serious issue cries out for swift action and clearing of all the irregularities, which resulted in the absence of the required vigilance. Therefore, we request the ministry of agriculture and fisheries as well as the Veterinary Quarantine Section to seriously consider the report in this context, which has been carried by the Arabic daily Al Khaleej.

We don't think the Vets are not around. They have gone underground under our very nose. We carried earlier in this column a report that unearthed an astonishing case of a Vet found working as a science teacher at a private school.

This should sound alarm bells in the establishment about the treatment meted out to Vets and calls for an official investigation into what has prompted these animal docs to switch to other jobs for a living.

• UAE