WINDHOEK – The University of Namibia (Unam)’s Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Neudamm campus Wednesday inaugurated two Clinical Skills laboratories for the School of Veterinary Medicine.
The school created in 2014, targets to follow the mandatory conditions asked by the World Organisation of Animal Health: that students be “day-one competent”, meaning they have to be able to work just after their graduation.
To achieve this objective, Unam lecturers are committed to teach 200 clinical, surgical and medical competencies demanded by the Namibian Veterinary Council to the students.
With these pre-requisites, they will be able to work with all kinds of animals, for all the tasks that have to complete a veterinarian.
“This includes food safety and security, handling and welfare of a variety of species, production and reproduction, and of course a host of infectious diseases that can affect all animals,” explained Professor Frednard Gideon, the Pro-Vice Chancellor of Academics Affairs at Unam.
This inauguration arrives just on time for the 18 fifth-year students, the first veterinarians that will be graduated and trained in Namibia.
“Before this lab, we had to go to other clinics outside the campus to practice, but since last week we began working here, and practice for dentistry for instance,” explained Lee-Monique Anderson, one of the fifth-year students at Neudamm.
The next step for their sixth and last year is a hospital training of three months in South Africa, in partnership with the University of Pretoria. This would be followed by internships and clinical rotations in Namibia to perfect their trade.
According to Dr Alphons Mosimane, the Assistant Pro-Vice Chancellor of Neudamm, the new labs are a result from long budgeting, discussions, negotiations, but are a great opportunity for Namibia to train its own veterinarians.
“And it’s only the first step, we have long-term plans for the School of Veterinary Medicine of Neudamm,” said Mosimane.
* Lucie Mouillaud is a journalism intern from Toulouse, south of France