VN October 2021

Vetnuus | Oktober 2021 26 Despite many challenges still faced by the professions, progress has been made, the indaba heard. Said Dr Adam, “We need to take a proactive approach to managing change and take our future into our own hands. Our industry needs to becomemore representative, from top management down … and we must be open-minded about transformation and inclusivity.” Dr Kgasi added, “We have to be agile and responsive, and not just talk, but be action-oriented and innovative. Transformation is about innovation. It’s a business imperative. We need to join hands to provide quality, relevant and accessible veterinary services, finding solutions that ultimately benefit the people of the country.” Ends About the The South African Veterinary Council (SAVC) The South African Veterinary Council (SAVC) is a Veterinary Statutory Body in South Africa, with powers and functions for the registration of persons practising the veterinary and para-veterinary professions. The SAVC has legal authority over the practising of veterinary and para- veterinary professions, and for matters connected therewith. The South African Veterinary Board, which is the forerunner of the SAVC, was established in 1933 in terms of the Veterinary Act 1933 (Act No. 16 of 1933). The SAVC then later became an independent, self-funding statutory body in 1982 under the Veterinary and Para- Veterinary Professions Act 1982 (Act No.19 of 1982). The current SAVC, therefore, has a proud and rich history of playing a role in the regulation of the veterinary profession in South Africa. It is compulsory in South Africa for all practising veterinary and para- veterinary professionals to be registered with the SAVC as stated in the Veterinary and Para-Veterinary Professions Act, Act 19 of 1982. The SAVC is therefore the custodian of the veterinary and para-veterinary professions in South Africa and enables the veterinary team to practise ethically, by setting and monitoring veterinary standards, to create a safe environment for animals and people.” https://savc.org.za/ Issued by Flow Communications on behalf of the SAVC. For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Khaya Thwala on khayat@flowsa.com or 078 349 0668. v SAVC News I SAVR Nuus DISPATCH FROM THE PROVINCEOF LEGENDS: EASTERN CAPE PROVINCE By the time you read this, I hope we would have brought the biggest outbreak of rabies in the Eastern Cape province since the new dispensation and probably in the history on the region under control. By around the 7 th of September this year, Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) recorded 66 rabies positive cases in dogs and 2 in horses. This is history in the making because the whole Eastern Cape has never experienced such a massive outbreaking one area, never! Of course, the eyes are now on us as a province to see how we are going to come out of this unscathed. At the time of writing this article the situation was not looking good at all. Information reaching us as a branch was that the system was breaking at the seams, and there was an urgent need to have all hands on bord!! It is clear that because rabies is a controlled disease the state has got the ultimate responsibility to ensure that they initiate the steps to control it, of course with the cooperation of the community. But they must be leading from the front. As we all know the wheels of the state tend to roll very slowly most times and at times, they need a“gentle shove”to start rolling. In this case there is a general feeling among the citizenry that we should not have had such outbreaks in an area where we have had to date very few outbreaks. One would have expected more cases to appear at our border with KZN because we know, for all intents and purposes that the outbreaks in that province have gone out of control. This is confirmed by the recent admission by one of the officials tasked with rabies control in that province who basically said that they are “overwhelmed”. What is amazing is that now we have cases over 800 kms away from this border. A number of questions arise from this outbreak: Where is the origin of these cases? What type of rabies are we dealing with here? Has this outbreak to do with the people /pet movement between KZN and Gqeberha (PE)? Why is information about this outbreak so scanty from the State Veterinary Services in the province? What is the state doing about this outbreak? Has the provincial authority got the capacity to bring this outbreak under control? Does it need assistance from other parties or not? These are all questions which should actually not arise because this province has the experience of managing the threats of