Brenda Yufeh
14 March 2008
While medical doctors are in charge of the health of human beings, veterinarians say they treat the entire world. "Veterinarians do not only have a responsibility for animals and their products but also treat human beings through animals", they say.
They are actually a sentinel for the early detection of accidentally or intentionally introduced exotic animal and diseases as well as a first line of defence against agro-terrorism and a key component of biodefense. Hence, Dr Henri Réné Zambou, a veterinarian in Douala says their role has an ever increasing global responsibility. Dr Henri Zambou says that a veterinarian is that doctor who is in charge of the human health through that of animals. This is so because when treating animals they protect the health of human beings through the control of animal meat and other items such as eggs, milk, etc which are eaten by human beings.
The veterinarian explained that when individuals eat animal meat and are not infected, they never border about the role of a veterinarian except when there is intoxication. It is at this point that they start pondering within themselves to know if the veterinarian had inspected the meat before it was being sold. This is why each day, veterinarians are found in each slaughter house not only to inspect animal meat but also condemn meat which is not proper for human consumption.
Experts note that animals have more diseases than human beings and it has been discovered that more than 75 per cent of new diseases in human beings are from animals. Thus, examining the health of animals is an indispensable role veterinarian must play. Dr Henri Réné Zambou says veterinarians also have an obligatory role of research to play in drugs manufacturing factories given that all drugs and vaccines used by human beings are first of all being tested on animals such as rats and guinea pigs in a bid to evaluate their efficiency.
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