By Kirsty Dougherty, BSc (Hons) Veterinary Nursing student – Edinburgh Napier University/The College of Animal Welfare
My first impressions of India were of smiling people, crazy driving and beautiful scenery -the sun shone, it was warm and life was instantly better.
On arrival at the University campus we were met with a large poster with our picture on it and the words “A hearty welcome to Team Edinburgh”. There was a colourful inauguration ceremony with speeches and presents and we saw a genuine interest in why we were there from all the kind and receptive vets and students.
We entered the veterinary hospital on our first day to showcase what a VN can do with the hopes that by the end of our visit we would be missed and that the supporting, caring role of the VN would be better understood by the Indian staff who were interested in developing their own VN training and qualification programme.
We were faced with many challenges in the unfamiliar environment but in proper VN style we set about cleaning and organising but with minimal supplies. You do not appreciate the true value of blue roll until you have none! The residents of the in-patient ward had varying long term chronic conditions so with a deep breath and remembering that this was why we had come, we did all we could to improve the immediate and long term conditions for these dogs. We scrubbed, sweated and problem solved our way through the week and were rewarded by seeing a big improvement in the demeanour and comfort of the animals there.
The surgical facilities were impressive with fancy monitoring equipment and it was sometimes hard to reconcile this with the less developed ward areas and levels of peri-operative care. After talking to the vet students however, we realised that many of them had been placed onto the veterinary medicine course due to their grades and that becoming doctors or engineers had been the first choice for many. I think we would all agree that veterinary nursing and veterinary medicine can be a difficult, dirty and tiring job but that we do it, and love it because we have a passion for animals that constantly makes it worthwhile. It becomes easier to understand just how difficult it must be for these students if they do not have that same motivating love for animals that gives us our drive, and that sees us through the hard times. In addition to this, there are also very understandable cultural attitudes to dogs that have to be taken into consideration. I was talking to a young shopkeeper who had just shooed away a stray dog and he told me “It’s not that I don’t like dogs, it’s just that I’m scared of needles.”
This really highlighted to me the difficulties faced by normal people living with the very real risk of Rabies. Over a third of the world’s 60 000 deaths from this horrible, preventable disease occur in India, the majority of which are in children under 15. We had to have three rabies vaccinations before we left and two members of our team had to have further injections whilst we were there. This all comes at a cost and for many Indians the means and facilities for medical treatment just aren’t there.
It is no wonder then that dogs are seen so differently from our safe, cuddly, lucky pets at home.
Despite all this we did meet people who really cared about their patients and who were willing to learn new techniques and improve standards. This is why a veterinary nursing programme would be so beneficial, the will is there and with some passionate people, further education and a framework of skills on which to build, the lives of hospitalised patients could be massively improved. I hope that by seeing the love, care and enrichment we gave to the dogs we will have inspired people and that the ripples of compassion will spread to the helpers, students, vets and patients and throughout the hospitals we visited and beyond.
I loved my time in India, I learnt so much and wish we had more time to spend there. I worked with some great people and animals and had lovely views with monkey visitors. We had power cuts in the middle of surgery, there were laughs, tears and many, many unforgettable experiences. The sun shone, it was warm and I feel proud to have been a part of Team Edinburgh.