Being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine, I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health, the relief of animal suffering, the conservation of livestock resources, the promotion of public health and the advancement of medical knowledge. I will practice my profession conscientiously, with dignity and in keeping with the principles of veterinary medical ethics. I accept as a lifelong obligation the continual improvement of my professional knowledge and competence.

Isn’t this the oath all practicing veterinarians are supposed to take at the start of their careers? How many of you remember it? And for how long?

This morning, I was alerted by my father, that Roopsha, one of the four month old puppies that we are looking after, is a little under the weather.

One look at her, and I knew that she was completely under the weather. The naughty, rambunctious, and pretty little girl had shrunk to half her size overnight. She could barely stand, and the sparkle in her eyes was gone.

I just couldn’t stand the sight. I was supposed to leave for work in another half an hour, but I decided to put going-to-work to the backburner, and try and help out the little puppy.

A prominent vet lives in the neighborhood, but he is not the one who usually treats our dogs. We had approached him once before, but he seemed to have a natural contempt for Indian dogs that made him unable to treat them.

Now was emergency. So we rang his doorbell hoping that he might at least suggest a medicine or another vet. He peeked from the window and vanished inside the room. There we stood for over an hour waiting for the door to open. It didn’t… for once I felt sorry that Roopsha was born an INdog.

Several frantic phone calls later, a kind and elderly veterinarian responded to our call. Roopsha was ill and severely dehydrated. He suggested some medicines and asked us to pray so that she can make it through. It is tough for a puppy of her age to recover, he said.

We are hoping and we are praying that this little girl makes it… she means the world to everyone whose lives she has touched in one way or the other.

In the meantime, I have a question for all the vets out there… I am not implicating all veterinarians. I just need to know, why this “racism” in the practice of medicine is allowed to go on? Isn’t there some organization in India, or anywhere in the world for that matter, that can punish these practicians? How many of you remember the oath, and live by it?

No TweetBacks yet. (Be the first to Tweet this post)

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.