Quack Veterinarians a threat to economy ― NVMA Acting President

The Acting President of the Nigeria Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA), Dr Ibrahim Shehu has said that the activities of quack veterinarians poses serious threat to the nation’s economy.

Dr Shehu disclosed this at the occasion of the Annual Veterinary Leaders Summit, held on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said the Association has been battling with quacks who are not their members, and also not registered with the Veterinary Council of Nigeria (VCN).

“We have been having issues with quacks, people parading themselves as Veterinary doctors, but they are not licensed to practice by the Veterinary Council of Nigeria (VCN) and they are not registered members of the NVMA.

“They have been giving us problems in delivering quality animal Healthcare services in this country.

“They pose a great danger to the economy and in the sense that they don’t really know the practice of Veterinary medicine in the country. They prescribe drugs that are not supposed to be given,” he said.

Dr Shehu further said that the resurgence of the Antimicrobial Resistance was as a result of quacks administering antibiotics wrongly.

“Just like the current resurgence of the Antimicrobial Resistance that we are getting, the quacks are the ones contributing to it.

“A licensed Veterinarian knows all the rules of prescription of antibiotics, their withdrawal period and when it is healthy to consume animal administered antibiotics. The quacks don’t really know the details of this, so they do things unprofessionally,”

On the theme of the Summit which is ‘the Future of Veterinary Practice in Nigeria, Dr Shehu said the aim was to educate veterinarians on the jobs they can get and Where to get them.

“Last year, we did the future of Veterinary Education, so, the veterinarians are educated in Veterinary medicine, we want to educate them on what is the future for them in this profession, the jobs they can get, where they can get those jobs and where they can fit in. So, that was why we chose the theme ‘the Future of the profession’.

“We have 10,000 registered veterinarians in the country that has a population of almost 200 million, which you can see from the number that we are grossly inadequate.

The Chairman of the Summit, Dr Vincent Isigbe who is also the Director General of Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) also lamented the activities of quacks in the profession.

“The profession is under serious attack from quacks, some of the legislation needs to be fine-tuned in view of the current realities of the Veterinary profession,” Dr Isigbe noted.

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