THE Chairman, Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA), Abuja Chapter, Dr. Ifeanyi Ogbu has said that the activities of quack veterinarians have left animal products unwholesome, thereby putting the lives of consumers of such animals at risk.
He also decried that quacks in the veterinary practice are responsible for more transmission of animal to human disease.
Dr Ogbu said that the majority of the diseases in humans are traced to animals and that Nigeria lacked sufficient veterinarians and facilities to track such zoonotic diseases. He added that continuous abuse of antibiotics by quacks was responsible for high rates of resistance to bacteria in humans.
The FCT Chairman of NVMA while speaking with journalists in Abuja as part of activities to mark this year’s World Veterinary Day, also urged the federal government to establish Animal Health Centres across all states in order to give veterinarians access to ordinary farmers.
While commending the Federal Government, Dr Ogbu noted that the ban on the importation of frozen meat has given way for massive indigenous production of livestock and made the profession thrive.
He said, “The majority of thing that quack does is they don’t actually cause the disease but they make the animal to be unwholesome, that why we have resistance to some bacteria, because we actually eat an animal that are treated by abuse of dose of bacteria administered by quacks and they don’t check the prescription, they don’t know when to give and withdraw. So we need our government to help us and give us all it takes to remove those quacks”.
Also, the Acting Registrar Veterinary Council of Nigeria (VCN), Dr Ezenwa Nwakonobi, said the issue of control of quackery is a multi-dimensional one and a number of bodies within the veterinary family handles different parts of that.
He said one of the mandates of the VCN is setting of standards for training of veterinarians, and the other one is regulating the practice of veterinary medicine and the practitioners themselves.
“In doing all these at the training level, we ensure that the curriculum is such that it speaks to the current issues.
“The issue of regulating the practice and the practitioners itself is for the purpose of making sure that the global standards are maintained by the practitioners “, he added.
Speaking on the theme of the year, “Strengthening Veterinary Resilience”, Dr Nwakonobi said to control quackery in the profession required a multidimensional approach within the veterinary family.
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