Vet on call: Why your child should study veterinary medicine

Emily knocked on the door of my office and quickly opened without waiting for me to respond. She peeped in and told me Grace, one of our customers who keeps both livestock and pets, was at the reception.

Grace had insisted she wanted to talk to me personally and it was not about her animals.

I led her to my office and assured her that as a veterinary doctor, one of my jobs is to hear out people on different issues.

I could see Grace was uneasy about her visit. I assured her that any question was welcome because she had determined that I was in a position to assist her.

“Please do not see like I do not respect your profession in my enquiry but I am concerned that my daughter, Mary, wants to be a veterinary doctor,” she opened up.

I assured her that her issue was a normal enquiry that we get all the time, especially regarding children who have observed veterinary doctors working.

I further told her personally, I was motivated to study veterinary medicine by a vet doctor who came to treat our cow way back when I was in primary school.

I was impressed by the way he made the animal calm with injections and then went ahead to remove dead material from the uterus. The cow fully recovered and gave us many calves and milk for a number of years later.

Upon further prodding, Grace told me she was not comfortable with Mary becoming a vet because there was no work for vets in Kenya. Further, she said veterinary doctors only work on the farms and their small practices. “Most of them really do not progress to big jobs, you know,” she concluded.

With her explanation, I could now understand her hesitation in broaching the subject. There is a saying that “you do not talk ill of water in a stream while sitting on the rocks in the water.”

I explained to Grace that she did not have to worry about exposing to me her grim view of the veterinary profession. I have had to deal with similar sentiments many times.

One such time is when a mother I had met in Kitui town had her daughter admitted to study veterinary medicine. When she learned I was a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, she asked me if I could assist her daughter change to a better course.

I explained to her the vet course was marketable and also had very diverse career options. The daughter finished the course and today she is an accomplished medical researcher and university professor in the US.

Many parents share Grace’s predicament because they do not fully understand who a veterinary doctor is. The matter is compounded by the presence of other cadres of animal health service providers, who the farmers and animal owners mistakenly call veterinary doctors.

THEY ARE MEDICAL WORKERS IN ADDITION

The situation is similar to what existed in human medicine when everybody working in a health facility and wearing a white coat was called “doctor”.

I exhaustively explained to Grace the training of a veterinary doctor, the role of the vet professional in society and the career options available to a veterinary doctor locally in Kenya and globally.

“I am now settled and Mary can pursue the course if she still wishes and obtains the grades in high school,” she concluded confidently.

She also requested and I agreed to have Mary visit us and spend one week at our office to understand animal care. The girl had already requested the mother if she could do so but Grace had procrastinated giving her permission because of her doubts about the veterinary profession.

Veterinary professionals are very many things bundled into one. In addition to animal disease treatment and control, they are medical workers but not medical doctors. It is estimated that 70 per cent of human diseases emanate from animals.

The vet doctor has the responsibility of ensuring that diseases from animals do not cross the species to affect humans.

Vet doctors are also trained to work in food safety and security, environment, education, biomedical research, pharmaceutical research and development, bio-terrorism, public health, disaster management, among many other areas.

After the initial training at undergraduate level, the vets can specialise into the various career options either by further training and experience or by on the job training and experience.

The veterinary profession is also highly versatile and fits well with other careers such as communication, management, leadership and security services.

There are veterinary doctors currently serving or who have served in journalism, the military, police and in parliament.

On the global arena, Kenyan veterinary doctors have excelled in university teaching, research, veterinary practice and non-governmental development work.

At the personal level, I have also worked in different sectors with the United Nations in Iraq, Jordan, Cyprus and Nigeria.

Apart from Grace, many parents in Kenya have asked me if I would recommend my child to study veterinary medicine.

My answer has always been “yes” because once someone has graduated with a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine, they are spoilt for choice on the career path to take.

However, like all other university education, first degree is not the end of education.