Famed for its natural beauty, Sri Lanka attracts travelers with its enticing surf beaches, breath-taking mountains and exciting wildlife safaris. However Sri Lanka also has a large population of street animals, many of whom are un-owned and can create problems for the locals.
I met Dr K.L. Achini Ishara while working alongside her at Animal SOS Sri Lanka, a large animal shelter that provides veterinary care to the country’s street animals. She took the time to meet me at a cafe in Weligama one Saturday morning. Her young family played on the beach while we chatted about her experiences of training in Sri Lanka, her dedication to her work, and the conflicts of neutering and euthanasia in a Buddhist country.
Did you always want to be a vet?
Well yes, I was around 13 or 14. I had an interest in animals and I was always sensitive towards them. I had that background from my family, and from my pet as a child. So yes, I had the desire to be a vet, and I also had the desire on the medical side as well. But I liked veterinary college more so I chose this.
Tell me about your background. Which part of Sri Lanka are you from, and where did you study?
My hometown is Galle, so I grew up there. I went to Southlands College and graduated there in 2007, and then I entered vet school. Its the only vet school in Sri Lanka, called the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, at the University of Peradeniya. I completed my veterinary course there, in the city of Kandy.
Is it difficult to get a place in the Veterinary Medicine course in Sri Lanka?
Very difficult, yes. You require a certain level of marks. If you consider a ranking of marks, category 1 is for medicine, and veterinary medicine falls into category 4 or 5.
And does it take many years to study?
Yes, so academic study takes 4 years and the internship is six months. And the internship is a must, if you are to work in Sri Lanka you have to complete it here. We have to do an internship in 2 places, 3 months one place, 3 months another place. So I did mine in 2 different government veterinary offices, we call them, or veterinary stations. I worked under 2 regions, mixed practice. So large animals, small animals, everything was there.
So when you qualify as a vet, are you required to specialise in one area or can you treat all animals?
We can treat every animal, including wildlife.
And do you find that most of your colleagues from veterinary school wanted to go on to be general practice vets?
Well, all students have different ideas. Not many wanted to join the government sector. My friends are involved in the private sectors, and some went to do academics in different fields. So there’s a huge choice, a huge variety of roles to choose from.
If a foreign vet was looking to work in Sri Lanka, what would that process involve?
You’d have to go to the veterinary council, and speak with them so they can guide you in what to do. [This would likely involve an internship for a number of months].
For a typical vet role in Sri Lanka, are you expected to work weekends and on-call shifts?
Yes, we have on-call, especially around 10 or 11pm for emergencies. Between me and Dr Asanka [at Animal SOS] if there is a real emergency someone will come, 365 days.
What are the most common emergencies or conditions you treat here?
We get quite a lot of snake bites. Road traffic accidents would be the number one emergency, then snake bites.
And for snake bites, do you stock anti-venom? Is it very expensive?
Yes we have it, but it is not in every veterinary clinic. It is very expensive and not available everywhere, and so a lot of animals die from snake bites especially without the anti-venom.
Are there any cultural challenges you find working in Sri Lanka that you may not have elsewhere?
If you consider cultural aspect, I guess not much you see really. I have noticed that with the religion, some people do not like to get their pets neutered- dogs or cats. They think its a sin. That’s the biggest conflict I’ve seen. Its difficult to convince them that it is the best thing for their pet.
Is this attitude the same with other surgeries, a like emergency surgery or mass excisions for example?
No, the issue is only towards neutering, any other thing is fine. It’s only about spaying.
That’s interesting. And the other cultural thing that strikes me coming here from a western background is that euthanasia is a lot less common.
That’s a big issue with the main religion in the country [buddhism]. For me, it was a conflict at the beginning, but with practice I have developed myself some principals regarding euthanasia. But there is still a huge conflict. Some people, they say without a fair reason- put my dog to sleep. And others, even when there is a reason, they don’t want to put them to sleep. So there’s a conflict, always.
But by the same token, that is something that I’ve come to appreciate about Animal SOS, they give animals more chances to recover than vets generally would in the Western World.
Yes, and that’s why I love Animal SOS. There is basically no euthanasia- we do it only if its an extreme suffering case.
Are there any laws that apply to being a vet here that may seem unusual elsewhere? Or any drugs you would like to have in the clinic, but cannot source here?
No. They are not strict enough actually, that’s the problem. So in our practice, we are fine. We need more laws, because there are people who claim they are vets who are practicing elsewhere, and they do more harm than any good. So that is a huge problem.
Are there any unique species of animal that you have treated as a vet?
Yes, when I was in final year of vet school, I worked with elephants, monkeys, porcupines, eagles, tortoises, a variety of animals. In final year, we are quite focused on the practical side, so we have hands on experience on every sort of thing.
What is your favourite part of being a vet?
Everything is my favourite actually! Yes I love everything.
What aspect of vet work do you find most challenging?
For me, I think surgery. That’s the most challenging area for me, and I need more practice on that. After that, managing the cases that you know are definitely going to die. Like renal failure, its challenging because we are dealing with a suffering animal. And we can’t put it to sleep- so its a bit challenging to deal with these cases.
Do most vet clinics employ professionally qualified vet nurses? What sort of training must vet nurses do here?
We don’t really have a profession called vet nurses here in Sri Lanka. Very rarely, in a couple of veterinary hospitals we have vet nurses. But they don’t have a professional course, they haven’t learned anything from any institute- they follow a vet’s instruction and learn from their experience. But not the complete professionals like in western countries. And we don’t have any laws for registering vets nurses here, which is a benefit for us [this means that western trained vet nurses can use their skills in Sri Lanka without needing to register with a professional body, as they would in the UK].
And finally, how many rectal examinations have you performed this week?
[Laughing] Well this week, I did none. Luckily! Because I worked only 2 days, so there’s less chance.Thankyou to Achini and her family for making time to meet me on a busy Saturday morning, and for sharing her experiences as a vet in Sri Lanka.
Further Information
You can find out more about what its like to volunteer at Animal SOS Sri Lanka on their organisation profile page, or if you’d prefer to hear more about what there is to do when visiting the region, check out Top Things to Do, See and Eat in Midigama, Sri Lanka.
Interesting in hearing more about the adventures of other international vets? Head back to the Global Vet Interviews Page to read about vets practicing in Finland, Dubai, the Galapagos Islands and more!
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