The Taiwan Veterinary Medical Association (TVMA) yesterday said the government should protect the rights of pets by allowing veterinarians to obtain and prescribe human medicine for the treatment of animals.
As the life expectancy of pets has significantly expanded, they increasingly face serious diseases and ailments as they age, such as malignant tumors and bone, joint and muscle disorders, but a large proportion of treatment for these diseases relies on medicine designed for humans, the association said.
The Pharmacist Association earlier this month complained to the Council of Agriculture about veterinarians being able to purchase and prescribe human medicine to treat animals, saying such actions contravene the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act (藥事法).
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The act stipulates that pharmaceutical companies can only sell human medicine through certain channels, which do not include veterinary hospitals and clinics.
Some pharmaceutical companies have informed veterinary hospitals that they would stop providing human medicine, Federation of Asian Small Animal Veterinary Associations chairman David Tan (譚大倫) said.
Many vets are concerned that if they can only prescribe medicine, but not provide it to pet owners, the owner might have difficulty finding pharmacies where they could purchase the drugs.
They are also concerned whether the vets or the pharmacists should be held responsible if something goes wrong after pets are given the prescribed drugs.
TVMA president Chen Pei-chung (陳培中) said veterinarians are worried that pharmacists would only be able to provide drugs according to prescription, but could not adjust them as needed for a specific animal or apply certain treatment to the animal, so the owner would have to take the pet back to an animal hospital for treatment, which would delay treatment time.
Taiwan Academy of Veterinary Internal Medicine president Wong Jun-yue (翁浚岳) said veterinary hospitals and clinics should either be allowed to continue directly purchasing human drugs according to the Regulations Governing the Use and Management of Human Drugs on Dogs, Cats and Non-economic Animals (人用藥品使用於犬貓及非經濟動物之使用管理辦法), or they should be included in the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act.
The full responsibility for treatment and drug management would fall on vets and veterinary hospitals or clinics, which would provide more effective control over drugs used on pets, Wong said.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Celebrations marking Double Ten National Day are to begin in Taipei today before culminating in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on the night of Thursday next week. To start the celebrations, a concert is to be held at the Taipei Dome at 4pm today, featuring a lineup of award-winning singers, including Jody Chiang (江蕙), Samingad (紀曉君) and Huang Fei (黃妃), Taipei tourism bureau official Chueh Yu-ling (闕玉玲) told a news conference yesterday. School choirs, including the Pqwasan na Taoshan Choir and Hngzyang na Matui & Nahuy Children’s Choir, and the Ministry of National Defense Symphony Orchestra, flag presentation unit and choirs,
RSS