Yesterday, Toa Payoh Vets was inspected by the
AVA before its operating licence can be renewed. It was the
same AVA vet who did the inspection the previous time and I
wanted Dr Daniel to be present. Somehow he was not around
during the inspection of the waiting area and reception
counter. Then, during inspection of the surgery room, he had
to answer a phone call.
It is important that the operating vets be around at the
inspection although they are not licensee as many regulatory
matters are best learnt from being on the spot. Sometimes, new
inspection surprises are introduced. This time, there was a
check on 3 medical records. I took out the recent 3, all of
which were done by Dr Vanessa. A dog and two hamster cases
done.
There is a checklist for inspection but it is not available on
the AVA website. Some years ago, the two AVA vets who came to
inspect were behaving like the army non-commissioned officers.
One Dr Lau placed his fingers on the window sill to check for
the presence of dust during his inspection. Later, when I
could not meet the AVA deadline to complete my clinic
renovation, he decided to close me down. The reasons being
that I had not installed the wall cabinets and the reception
counter.
"You ought to penalise the contractor in the contract for not
be able to complete on time," he said to me as he marched off.
He had closed the first Vet Surgery in Singapore for the AVA.
A record! Pet shops had been closed by the AVA for parvoviral
infections. But no vet clinics had been closed yet and so he
had the first one.
The clinic had all facilities available - water, electricity,
air conditioning, all regulatory rooms, drugs and medication.
I got a table and chairs and mobile cabinets as temporary
replacements but he was not interested in the fact that this
clinic was operational.
I had no choice but to write in to appeal to the Dr Ngiam Tong
Tau to state my case and was permitted to commence operations.
Yet, the HDB which is my landlord offered advices on how to
get contractors and expedite planning permission. Two
government organisations. One tried to kill the business. The
other tried to help it start fast.
There was another AVA vet, Dr Leow who referred me to the
Singapore Veterinary Association for using "xylazine to induce
dogs". She had asked me what drugs I used to induce dogs, like
those professors doing viva for final year students. I said I
used xylazine and then halothane mask. She did not come back
to me for clarification but instead wrote to the SVA. I was
not called up by the SVA but I was told by the President of
the SVA that she had written to the SVA to lodge a complaint.
So, you can see why I am wary of the AVA vets nowadays.
However, the recent AVA vet, Dr Joanna Khoo did not come to
penalise but gave excellent advices on veterinary matters like
controlled drugs of importance to the HSA and on a vet
practice that require other vets to call him personally if
they want to refer after-office hour patients. Too much
business is good for this vet practice. When more referral
practices are opened, this practice may be relieved of its
worries.
 TOA
PAYOH VETStoapayohvets.com Date: 20 April, 2012 Focus: Small animals - dogs, cats, hamsters, guinea pigs & rabbits |
|||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
