Deep Dive Podcast: Does the vet industry need greater oversight?
CNA
22 Nov 2024
Some pet owners have had to pay five-figure sums when their pets fall seriously ill. Is the current system in need of greater scrutiny and regulation? Steven Chia and Crispina Robert speak to Diana Chee, director at the Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS) and Angeline Yang, a veterinarian and owner of VetMobile.
Here's an excerpt from the conversation:Angeline Yang, veterinarian and owner of VetMobile:
I feel very strongly when something is related to the health of a living thing, there should be subsidies ... unless you're going to say that only wealthy people can afford pets.
If you're very sick and you don't have money, definitely you will be able to get treatment somewhere - it is illegal not to give you any treatment, right? And if you can pay for it, you can go for (more expensive) treatment.
Steven Chia, host: But people will argue with you and say, “These are people versus animals, they are not the same.”
Angeline: As a society, we have to decide, do we treat (animals) like family or commodity?
Crispina Robert, host: Coming back to rising costs, we found out that private equity firms were buying up clinics. So, candy maker Mars owns the Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Hospital and the Mount Pleasant Hospital group. If the big boys are in the picture, they are going to prioritise profit, right? Would that be a problem?
Steven: But they could make prices lower as well (with economies of scale)?
Diana Chee, director at AVS: Let me jump in here. I think most clinics do offer a special rate for the folks from the welfare groups or (community) cat feeders.
So those who are rescuing animals, yes - individual clinics would offer some kind of specialised rate.
But it wouldn't make economic sense to run a clinic as a specialised clinic that just sees charity cases.
When I was in vet school (in the UK), we did rotations with the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals. It was quite sad to see people turning up in big fancy cars and then leaving £20 in the box.
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