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Eric Lai

This week: Beware of untrained practitioners

It's April, the time of year when fools come out of hiding. A story came to my attention this week of a man in the New Territories who has openly admitted to practising veterinary medicine on unsuspecting pets without any formal veterinary training, no university degree and no registration with the Hong Kong Board of Veterinary Surgeons. The man claims he is self-taught and is able to diagnose and treat ailments veterinarians are not able to.

What is worse, the man not only treats animals medically but also performs surgery on them on a  mahjong table. He has a little pharmacy of his own, with vaccinations, human and veterinary drugs and anaesthetics. He also has a dart gun he uses to sedate fractious animals. He demonstrates his surgical skills with a string and sewing needle.

It all sounds like a joke but the punch line is people actually knowingly take their pets to this man.

What brought him to public attention was a complaint about a dog neutering procedure he performed, after which the wound broke open and became infected.

It is illegal in Hong Kong to pretend to be a veterinarian and defraud patients; it is also illegal to diagnose or treat animal disease unless you are a veterinarian, and that includes using Chinese medicine and acupuncture. Offenders face a large fine and/or prison. So why the need for such a law in the first place? Why can't anyone be a veterinarian? The law is in place to protect not only the animals but also the city's citizens.

Being a veterinarian is not a handy craft that you can learn just from experience and reading a book. I have nurses with more than 15 years' experience who bring their pets in for regular checkups because they realise there is a lot more to diagnosing and treating diseases than just treating the symptoms.

The intensive training required so a veterinarian can practise in Hong Kong is very broad. It's not just about diseases and symptoms; it's also about knowing what goes on in the background that is most important. A good example is the 'simple vaccination'; it may seem easy to know the basic vaccination schedule and it may seem it is simple hand-eye co-ordination when giving an injection, but in reality it is far from simple.

As veterinarians we understand how the vaccination was originally designed and made, how its constituents are broken down into the adjuvant, or the carrier, and the antigen that stimulates the immune response. We know the physiology of the immune response and why the vaccination schedule is timed the way it is. We know variations of response to vaccination between different age groups and different species and breeds of animals.

We know about the anti-globulins in a mother's first milk, called colostrums, and their affect in imparting immunity. We are prepared to react to an allergic response if it happens and know how to avoid blood vessels when giving the vaccination. We know the legal aspects of vaccinations; we know the proper transport and storage of vaccinations. We know when vaccinations are improper and we know the reaction between vaccinations and various other drugs and clinical conditions. You get the idea. And we are just talking about a 'simple' vaccination.

It takes a broad scientific background to understand and really know what happens in a sick animal. We spend years of training just to know what is normal. New graduates are continuously just learning what is normal, let alone what is abnormal. I am still learning to this day. This profession is very dynamic and has a very active community that shares in new knowledge. I hear the comment often that it must be difficult to know so much about so many diseases in so many different animals and my only answer, humbly, is 'yes, you are right'. And given this broad spectrum of specialist knowledge, it also needs to be continuously updated.

So for someone to claim to be self-trained in treating animals is absurd. It is irresponsible and dangerous for animals to be treated under pretence as lives are at stake.

The lists of wrongs of this man are not just confined to pretending to be a veterinarian; he uses dangerous drugs and antibiotics, some of which are likely to come from China where prescription drugs are too readily available without a permit. It is not only illegal to smuggle these into Hong Kong, it is dangerous to use drugs that haven't undergone proper quality control.

So why someone would take their pets knowingly to such a shady character is beyond reason.  And by knowingly bringing a pet to an illegal practitioner, you may be involved in an act of animal cruelty, and that carries a maximum HK$200,000 fine and up to three years' jail.



Urban Jungle