Veterinarian Views

Today pets have become part of our family, awareness among pet parents has increased manifold—sometimes in a good way and sometimes not so good. The good part is that people are more aware of preventive healthcare, vaccinations, diagnostic tests, and willing to spend time and money on these modalities, because of which disease detection has increased. The bad part is that people think diseases are increasing in prevalence, which is not true. Social media is a boon for us, but can also be a curse when people make judgements without being qualified to judge us. After all, the past 10 years have witnessed a great phase for pets, with understanding of nutrition and cutting edge scientific developments being used in veterinary practice.
–Dr Sangeeta Vengsarkar Shah, Mumbai

Veterinary practice in India is getting better with time. It has achieved tremendous developments in all aspects over the past 10 years. It’s getting more and more closer to getting our animals live a comfortable and happy life. Veterinarians from India are going abroad in a very large number to pursue advanced veterinary studies, so that we have well-qualified and highly professional veterinarians in the country. These days our animals in India get the best possible medical treatments. –Dr SV Vishwasrao, Mumbai
Availability of science, technology and knowledge to the Indian veterinarians has been growing over the last 10 years. You can imagine the growth which started by 5 vets visiting the international conference, the figure is now 278 veterinarians—the industry has grown fantastically. The veterinary practise in the country is getting more technology and knowledge conscious, as we follow evidence-based medicines. At our hospital Happy Tails we try to get in as much science or technology as required for basic practise. Our practise is like a teaching facility, with a group of 20 plus veterinarians and around 4-5 students who are finishing their graduation and quite confident. People can reach us at whatever time because of our 24×7 facility.
–Dr Umesh Karkare, Mumbai

The best part in the last 10 years in the industry is knowledge enhancement for both veterinarians and pet parents. Pet parents nowadays are more inclined to studying about diseases and learning more prior to their visit to us. So we constantly need to enhance our knowledge, in which we are greatly helped by conferences like WSAVA World Congress that bring us on a global platform and enhance our knowledge. Veterinary profession as such in India is now growing at a very fast pace. We started with the basics at our clinic Doggy World, but today we are moving towards more advancements and specialisation, with separate divisions for different treatments.
–Dr Aradhana Pandey, New Delhi
At the WSAVA World Congress 2018 in Singapore, there were around 300 veterinarians from India who want the latest information and technologies such as ultrasound, laser and different approaches to treat the companion animal in a better way. We are happy to see the changes in the industry in the last 23 years with the global vet community. With the congress we can learn and apply the learning in practice, enabling us to treat our patients better.
–Dr Ajay Sood, Delhi

When I returned to India around eight years back after practicing a few years abroad, we struggled a lot to set up a pathology lab, to add more diagnostic units and equipments like digital radiography and colour doppler, ultrasound and newer procedures in surgery. It was quite a challenge. As time progressed, I have seen personally that the industry has dramatically changed. There is more sensitivity among pet parents towards pet welfare and vets go for better perception in understanding different kinds of diseases, moving from therapeutic to diagnostic medications, diagnosing a lot of diseases that we couldn’t do earlier. After all, more and more international procedures and standard practices have come to India. This is all happened in the country over the past 7-10 years. In the next five years we will be at par with most of the European and American veterinary hospitals. –Dr Kunal Dev Sharma, New Delhi
Our vet hospitals are equipped with special surgical and diagnostic equipments of top brands. As far as the veterinary practice is concerned, we are exploring and expanding in India. My thanks goes not only to vets, but equally to pet parents as well. It was great to witness 3300 vets from all over the world gathered at the WSAVA World Congress in Singapore and I am pleased to say one of the biggest groups at the congress was from India comprising 278 vets. The congress had so much educational and cultural exchange programmes including masterclass hands-on trainings, pre-congress and post-congress workshops, CE sessions, etc. Everybody had great time there and I wish Indian vets to make it to the next level. We are looking at hosting the show in a bigger way in Hyderabad in 2021.
–Dr Makrand Chavan, Mumbai

Over the last one decade, the pet industry in India has developed to another level with the introduction of advanced medical facilities and procedures. Diagnostic tests, sonography, blood tests, x-rays become in-house for a number of pet hospitals in the country. With the use of these advanced medical facilities it’s easier for us to diagnose diseases in the early stages and treat our patients more effectively. Investment among pet parents for their furry kids keeps increasing and it’s really a boom time for vet practice. Today, the veterinary world is closer, the global events and conferences that eventually help us improve a lot.–Dr Deepak Surendra Tulpule, Pune
Veterinary practice in India, particularly in Tamil Nadu where I belong, has been gaining momentum over the past 10 years. Pet parents are showing much interest in diagnostic treatment for their pets as they prefer their pets get best treatments. We are now fully upgraded. For example, when it comes to dealing in heart or cardiac issues, ECG facilities are available today. When we look back around five years ago there was nothing much about such facilities in our industry. Common in almost every pet hospital in India today are facilities equipped with x-ray, digital cardiography and other advanced equipments. These days pet parents are willing to spend and veterinarians are willing to invest in new technologies.
–Dr GR Baranidharan, Tamil Nadu

We have seen enormous growth in veterinary practice in our country over the last 10 years. In fact, our vet practice has escalated to another level. It’s a great pleasure to see a large group of veterinarians from India at the WSAVA World Congress 2018, which means that our vets are keen to learn new developments in veterinary medicines and practices. What we have noticed as a major change in the industry over the last few years in the industry is the increase in hands-on veterinary practice. And vet colleges are conducting training programmes that have eventually improved the overall vet practice across the country.
–Dr Balasubramanium Nagarajan, Chennai