Vetsream extends support for Ukranian vets
Vetstream has renewed its provision of providing all six of its Vetlexicon species services to members of the Ukrainian Small Animal Veterinary Association (USAVA) free of charge to support them in their clinical work.
Providing veterinary care in a war zone has huge challenges, not least the uncertain provision of electricity which is pretty essential for many aspects of veterinary care. However, the clinical teams are able to access all of the Vetlexicon content via their smartphones and so can continue to use the valuable resource, as long as they have access to a mobile network.
Power cuts forced on entire communities make daily care for displaced and injured animals difficult and emergency veterinary care almost impossible. These power cuts don’t just deprive vets, owners and carers of these animals of light, but of hot water, and power for diagnostic and surgical.
More than 69 practices in Ukraine are regularly accessing Vetlexicon content to enable them to reach a more rapid diagnosis and handle the consequences of burns, lack of clean water and other conditions such as gastrointestinal conditions from contaminated water and Leishmaniosis.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the number of stray animals in Ukraine has increased by at least 60%. Those who had homes and owners before have become homeless. Some were abandoned while fleeing the fighting. Some owners were killed by Russian mines and shells. The situation in the occupied and de-occupied territories is extremely difficult. First and foremost, assistance is provided to people whenever possible, but animals also need rescue. At the beginning of the year, the Socioinform public opinion research centre conducted a census of animals in more than 500 shelters. They counted more than 26,000 dogs and about 19,500 cats.
Vetstream CEO Dr Mark Johnston said: “Vetstream was delighted to be able to support veterinarians in Ukraine, providing veterinary care for the thousands of stray animals impacted by the Invasion by Russia when the war started in February 2022. In August of this year (2023) we were able to provide all the Vetlexicon content in multiple languages from the dropdown menu, including Ukrainian, so that veterinary clinics could have access to Vetlexicon’s point-of-care information to help them with clinical conditions resulting from contaminated water, smoke inhalation, burns as well as Leishmaniasis which is being found in the southern parts of Ukraine.
“We are pleased to be able to continue to provide Vetlexicon for both veterinarians and also, very importantly, to provide the client information on the health and welfare of dogs, cats, horses, and cattle in their native tongue of Ukrainian to enable the owners and carers of the animals in Ukraine to understand more about the health and welfare of their animals.”
