Providing the scientific capabilities to match the human resources in the practice of veterinary medicine in Guyana is critical to realising the goals of both delivering high quality foods to the table as well as enhancing market prospects for the country’s food exports.
Treasurer of the Guyana Veterinary Association (GVA) and Animal Health Specialist Dr Maxine Aaron-Parris told Stabroek Business that while there was no shortage of qualified veterinary scientists in Guyana, the absence of a veterinary diagnostic laboratory continued to place limitations on the capacity to the profession to impact on the welfare of the industry. “There is no shortage of veterinarians.
It really is a matter of those skills being supported by diagnostic capacity. The work of the veterinary scientist in the field needs to be backed up by the work that we do in the laboratory,” Dr Aaron-Parris told Stabroek Business.
The local veterinary community is seeking to draw greater national attention to the relevance of the discipline in raising standards of animal health and, by extension, human health in Guyana, Aaron-Parris said. Additionally, she pointed out that higher standards of veterinary service were important to protecting existing poultry and meat markets and creating new ones.
GVA Secretary Dr Dane Hartley said the role of veterinary medicine had assumed enhanced national significance in the face of both national and global animal health concerns and the implications of those concerns for food safety and human health.
He said the current focus of the GVA was on providing a professional service that could offer a quality of animal treatment that ensures more healthy foods while addressing the veterinary requirements of both the wildlife and export industries.
Earlier this week, the local veterinary community benefited from a two-day workshop facilitated by overseas specialists under the auspices of Partners of the Americas which has been conducting capacity-enhancing interventions with various sections of the local agricultural community.
This week’s workshop enabled technical presentations and discussions on key contemporary veterinary-related issues including livestock production and climate change, stray animal control and what is being described in the profession as the ‘one health concept’. The workshop was linked to tackling known weaknesses in the local animal management culture the remedying of which can have a positive impact on the national livestock and dairy culture.
The current initiative to revitalise the GVA also coincides with the recent creation of the Guyana Swine Producers Association, the success of which, a local official told Stabroek Business, will be dependent on the capacity of the industry to produce high-quality pork for local consumption and for possible export markets.
