It’s High Time Pakistan Had a Veterinary Revolution

The practice of using live animals to learn surgery and its related procedures at veterinary schools has been dwindling around the world over the last decade, with a growing number of institutes even banning terminal surgeries from their curricula and opting for synthetic cadavers, but why is it still the norm in Pakistan?

Salman Sufi, the head of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Strategic Reforms, told ProPakistani on Tuesday that strict reforms in line with international best practices to abolish surgeries and experimentation on live animals in all Pakistani universities will be introduced this month. He added that efforts to introduce alternatives to educate veterinary students are underway.

ProPakistani also spoke to vets in the twin cities to find out more about the perpetuating academic policies and traditions that are now being viewed as barbaric traditions.

Dr. Akmal Rana, the President of the Pakistan Small Animals Veterinary Association (PKSAVA) and an alumnus of the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS), Lahore, has been a practicing vet for almost 38 years in Islamabad. He said that most veterinary universities in Pakistani do not provide students with dogs for practicals, and students have to catch them from the streets or wherever they can.

He also stated that PKSAVA and the Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council (PVMC) cannot offer assistance in changing the system of veterinary universities.

Dr. Muhammad Awais, the head veterinary doctor at Pets & Vets Hospital Bahria Town, Rawalpindi, earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from the UVAS in 2016 and has an M.Phil. in Veterinary Surgery. He explained that local veterinary institutes often have large batches of students in a session that are divided into groups for academic practices. He recalled that UVAS procured dogs and allotted them to the groups for the students to perform various surgeries.

Dr. Awais said that each group had to take care of its assigned dog, which involved carefully feeding it, strictly maintaining its hygiene, and scrupulous pre-surgical and post-surgical care.

“We were graded on all these activities, and our entire future depended on it,” he said.

Dr. Awais also stated that post-surgery care involved administering medicines and antibiotics and ensuring the complete healing of the wound, after which the stitches were opened, and then the next surgery was performed on the same animal.

He added,

Each animal was used in this way for three to four surgeries, and it was released after had recovered completely. However, if something was amiss, like an infection, maybe due to a lack of hygiene, or if the stitches burst open, we would directly and inexcusably fail the course.

Other vets in Islamabad also affirmed that students fail their course if their surgeries and practical procedures are botched and if the animal dies during or after the surgery.

Regarding the questionable academic practices at veterinary institutes, Dr. Awais pointed out that students are often from humble backgrounds and find it hard to meet the sudden expenses of arranging for medicines and equipment.

“Such circumstances often lead one-track mind students to resort to depraved practices to pass their exams through any means possible. They forego ethics in desperation, but I don’t condone this,” he remarked.

Suggesting solutions to maintain ethical practices, Dr. Awais detailed that “animals should be procured formally and universities can work ethically with animal shelters for this. Universities should provide their students with instruments, equipment, and medicines. This reduces students’ desperation and the pressure on them. Also, surgeries and practicals should be duly supervised”.

He also stressed that the administrations should provide properly built cages and hygienic conditions for the animals in well-ventilated areas for the convenience of the students.

“If the provided cages have broken wires and are small and dirty, of course, the animals placed in them will suffer. Teachers must closely observe the hospitalized areas in the universities and how the animals are kept in them. If the animals’ mouths and front and hind limbs are all bound while caged, surely, it will be in distress,” he said.

“It’s the teachers’ and university administrations’ responsibility to instill ethics, responsibility, and accountability in their students from day one that they can carry on into their professional practice in the long run,” he concluded.

One Dog to Save Them All?

Since the 1980s, animal rights activists and students in the West have questioned the ethics and necessity of sacrificing animals for teaching purposes, which led veterinary schools to adopt alternatives like computer models and cadavers.

Considering the limitations of these options and the growing efforts to reduce the use of live animals for terminal surgeries and practicals, a Florida-based company called SynDaver introduced realistic and practical synthetic animal cadavers and body parts for use in veterinary training programs in the USA in 2016.

Its canine replica is composed of a patented mixture of water, salts, and fibers that allow it to bleed and be customized to mimic multiple diseases and conditions. It is said to be compatible with all imaging systems and all known surgical techniques to allow students to perfect their practical skills without using live animals.

Pakistan is in dire need of a veterinary revolution at the government, academic, and public levels, as well as updated and actively enforced animal protection laws. For now, animal lovers are desperately awaiting news from the Prime Minister’s Strategic Reform in the hopes that no animal in Pakistan may have to be sacrificed for science ever again.



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