IVSA UPenn Thailand Trip 2010

By: Steven Fernandez

Class of 2013, University of Pennsylvania

The International Veterinary Student Association (IVSA) University of Pennsylvania chapter took on the challenge this past year to organize a trip with a contact from a Thai veterinarian and practice owner of Vet4 Polyclinic in Bangkok, Thailand. Our IVSA UPenn chapter was unaware that this veterinary practice is a well-known and respected clinic in all of Thailand. Vet4 was the first clinic in Thailand to start hydrotherapy for dogs and third to do total hip replacements. Hundreds of emails later throughout the entire academic year, IVSA UPenn sent 14 veterinary students and one local veterinarian to Bangkok, Thailand to start their hands-on training 9,500 miles away.

The trip consisted of 5 clinic days where the students were able to do full spays and castrations from incision to closure at no cost to the owners. We held a series of wetlabs using cadavers weeks in advance to prepare for surgery thanks to the help of our IVSA faculty advisor and surgery residents. Throughout the year we fundraised as much as possible to reduce the cost of the trip and we received lots of donations to offer better medical care for our patients. We brought extra luggage filled with IDEXX Snap tests, injectable Metacam (courtesy of Boerhinger-Ingelheim) for pain management, sterile surgery gloves, lots of frontline (courtesy of Merial), and sterile drapes (courtesy of GEPCO). Students learned how to keep their patient under anesthesia using basic drugs that were available to us. One of the major challenges with outdoor surgery was the incredibly high temperatures dogs had while recovering. Nonetheless, animals did recover and were sent on their way once they were able to walk.

Clinic day 1 was in a side street of Huay Kwang, an area within Bangkok city. There, we had a reception with our diamond sponsors, GHB (Thai bank) and Vet4 Polyclinic. Little did we know that we were going to be broadcasted on TV.  That day was a little disorganized which made us inefficient. The chaos led to some stress throughout the day but the morale was boosted when one of the thankful clients invited us to delicious iced coffee.

Clinic day 2 was held in another part of Bangkok called Prachaniwet. Our surgery was set up inside a giant gazebo-looking structure that was suspended above a small canal in a park. The area was very random but the set up worked well throughout the day making us undoubtedly efficient.

Clinic day 3 at Ayutthaya was especially interesting since the clinic was held on temple property. Locals told us that stray dogs are brought to this open area of property where volunteers and monks feed and care for the animals. Throughout the day, it was pretty much grab a dog that walks by you, sedate him/her, and get to work.

Clinic day 4 at a shelter for disabled animals was a last minute addition and definitely worth the experience as well.  Thailand, being a Buddhist country, does not euthanize which is why they dedicated this shelter to animals that have issues, which their owners cannot afford to take care of.  Open roof cages are set up in rows where dogs that were hit by car remain for the rest of their lives either paralyzed due to spinal cord trauma or with orthopaedic injuries. Now you can appreciate how sad this shelter must have been except most animals there were extremely content, enjoying our company, and very well taken care of (very clean facility).

Finally Clinic day 5 came around which was held in Hua Hin, located in southern Thailand near the shore. The people of Thailand love their King and their King loves dogs, which is probably why we were supported and treated with lots of hospitality and respect. This shelter in Hua Hin where we set up the clinic, was by far the nicest shelter I have ever seen. Most of us were content that we were doing surgery in an air-conditioned room! We saw some interesting ways of transporting animals via “cat-in-a-bag” style and met our GHB sponsors again.

Between clinic days we did have time to enjoy Bangkok, and the Thai culture. We attended a Muay Thai fight, rode elephants, night life, went to the Jazz Festival, attended the Thailand International Dog Show, ate delicious curry every morning for $1, spent a few days on an island as vacation, did karaoke, visited a tiger zoo, bought souvenirs at a floating market, and drank from bags (which I found amusing). Next year we are planning on taking 18 veterinary students and 2 local veterinarians. Of course we will have to fill up those spots so who knows maybe you will be getting an email via SAVMA about going to Thailand!

I encourage that you use your IVSA chapters and their connections with other chapters to experience veterinary medicine internationally. If you know a contact in any country, try and set up a trip like the one we had. If you do not have any contacts, I suggest you speak with students from IVSA chapters in other countries to assist you.

I would like to thank our sponsors for making this trip possible since without their support, we would not have been able to travel 9,500 miles away to work clinics: GHB, Vet4 Polyclinic, Pfizer, Merial, GEPCO, Boerhinger-Ingelheim, IDEXX Laboratories, and Beach Garden Cha-am who supported our stay in Hua Hin.