Registration of facilities
A case study of what not to do
A complaint was received that a veterinarian practiced from an unregistered facility and that the veterinarian prescribed scheduled medicines without a veterinarian-client-patient relationship. By providing the clinical records, the veterinarian proved that the medicines were in fact prescribed within the veterinarian-client-patient relationship required in terms of section 34 of the Veterinary and Para-Veterinary Professions Act, Act 19 of 1982.
The investigation revealed the following:
The veterinarian practised as a consultant to industry;
No medicines were kept at the facility;
Clinical records were kept;
The veterinarian “purchased” the practice many years ago and assumed that all the paper work was in order;
That said, the veterinarian said that he/she did not know that all veterinary facilities had to be registered; and
The veterinarian did not keep up to date with the legal requirements to practice, as Council e-mails and the Newsletter were ignored as the veterinarian was “too busy”.
Due to the fact that the witnesses refused to testify, the veterinarian received a warning in terms of rule 40(9). That means there is no formal record regarding the warning. The veterinarian in question is a senior veterinarian who regularly attends Continued Professional Development activities and who could not possibly, not have known about the requirement that his facility had to be registered with Council.
What could be done to avoid a similar situation or worse:
Make sure (double check) whether your veterinary facility is registered, as it has been a legal requirement since 1 October 1982 that all veterinary facilities from which the veterinary profession is practiced, must be registered with Council; and
Read all communications from Council meticulously, as e-mails, SMS’ and the Newsletters are the communication tools used by Council to update the professions about new developments, especially legal developments. LINK: Newsletter articles regarding the registration of facilities since 1993 to September 2016.
All veterinarians and para-veterinary professionals must be aware that ignorance of the law is no excuse and that a professional is expected to be familiar with all the legal requirements and ethical requirements to practice his/her chosen profession. These principles have been accepted and enforced by South African Courts on a number of occasions.
Keeping an open shop
An enquiry was received from a veterinarian as follows:
The veterinarian was a partner in a veterinary practice consisting of a large number of veterinarians;
Due to an injury which severely curtailed the veterinarian’s ability to perform clinical work, while still a partner in the practice, the veterinarian started to dispense medicines to clients of that practice that were prescribed by the veterinarian’s partners for use in the treatment of animals under their professional care;
A few months ago, the veterinary practice and the medicines side of the practise split and the veterinarian commenced a separate business, which dispensed medicines on prescriptions issued by the veterinarian’s previous partners to clients of that practise;
The veterinarian does not dispense any medicines on prescription of any veterinarian, other than his/her previous partners.
Response:
Section 34(1) of the Veterinary and Para-Veterinary Professions Act, Act 19 of 1982 (the Act) quoted below, is very clear in that it provides that a veterinarian may only dispense medicines on behalf another person with whom he or she is in partnership or with whom he or she is associated as a principal or an assistant or a locum tenens; and
Dispensing medicines to persons other than those set out in point 5 would amount to keeping an open shop, which is a contravention of the Act and simultaneously constitutes unprofessional conduct.
“34. Dispensing of medicine
(1) A person who is registered or deemed to be registered in terms of this Act to practise a veterinary profession, may personally compound or dispense any medicine which is prescribed by himself or by any other person with whom he or she is in partnership or with whom he or she is associated as a principal or an assistant or a locum tenens, for use in the treatment of an animal which is under his or her professional care: Provided that he or she shall not be entitled to keep an open shop or pharmacy.
In order to comply with the relevant legal requirements, the veterinarian would either have to revert back to being a partner in the veterinary facility or establish a pharmacy under the Pharmacy Act, Act 53 of 1974, and employ a pharmacist, who may legally dispense medicines on prescription of a veterinarian.
