Sick animals can now consult their veterinarian

Sick animals can now be followed by their veterinarian via teleconsultation, according to a decree published this Wednesday, May 6, in the official journal, a possibility considered since 2016 by carers and whose implementation has been accelerated by the coronavirus epidemic.

“This is a subject that has been maturing slowly since 2016. The national council of the order had, at the time, asked the French veterinary academy for an opinion on the possibility of setting up a device similar to what existed in human medicine “, Jacques Guérin, president of the National Council of the Order of Veterinarians, told AFP.

The system, set up on an experimental basis for a period of eighteen months, “Will allow veterinarians located in particular in rural areas to ensure close monitoring of animals by avoiding certain movements”, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement.

“The current health emergency has revived the idea of ​​speeding up the movement. In March, I wrote to the Minister of Agriculture, asking him that the veterinary profession could, in a shorter time, use this form of complementary exercise that is veterinary telemedicine “, indicates Jacques Guérin.

One of the objectives is “To reduce inter-personal contacts during the day, to reduce travel […] by doing only the essential, urgent acts, those which consist in treating a sick animal ”, he insists.

He takes the example of a veterinarian called to the bedside of a horse that injured an anterior: “What is essential is that the veterinarian goes to the horse and protects the wound, disinfects it, possibly the suture”, explains Jacques Guérin, also a veterinarian in Morbihan.

“Until now, he came every day to check how the wound was progressing. With telemedicine, he will be able to have information, especially through the image “, which will allow him to say if the wound is progressing well or badly, and if it is necessary to move, he underlines.

During this period of confinement, many veterinarians were already accepting only urgent cases.

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