Find out how our members are coping with veterinary life during the COVID-19 pandemic
Dr Ni Made Restiati is the founder of Bali Veterinary Clinic, a two-clinic practice she founded in 2000, following time spent working in Australia, in order to help raise standards of veterinary care for pets in her home state of Bali.
She shares her experience of working in the pandemic:
In early January 2020, when l realized Indonesia, of which Bali is part, was likely to be affected by COVID-19, I met with my clinical staff to discuss our response based on four scenarios:
- No infections – business as usual
- Mild outbreak of COVID-19 – reduce the staff roster and our opening hours
- Moderate outbreak of COVID-19 – ask some staff to take unpaid leave
- Serious outbreak of COVID-19 – close the clinics
We also discussed what we might need to do in the case of ‘lockdown’ and, if we were still open, how we could protect our staff and the clinics from becoming infected with the virus.
The first positive case in Indonesia was reported in 2 March 2020 so we started to follow the protocol for scenario 2:
- We reduced staff numbers in order to facilitate physical distancing
- We deployed sanitizers widely around the clinics. I also installed a sanitizer mist spray chamber to be used by all staff and clients entering the clinics
- We checked the temperature of everyone working in or visiting the clinic
- To limit the risk of staff inadvertently bringing the virus into the clinic, I asked them to wear face masks to travel between the clinic and home; to leave their home for shopping only once a week and to cook at home and wash all shopping
- We prohibited clients from entering the clinic and instead received patients from an open terrace waiting room. We didn’t allow clients to come to the waiting room terrace unless they wore a facemask – we provided them free of charge.
Once the first positive case of COVID-19 was announced, patient numbers at the clinics crashed – as I’d expected they would be and, by the end of March, when the number of cases in Indonesia was rising, we moved first to scenario 3 and then to scenario 4. I had to close one of the clinics.
Now, our patient numbers are increasing again so, to increase hygiene measures and adherence to our sanitization protocol, we are collecting patients from their home to avoid owners coming to the clinic. This is partly because some clients are not following hygiene protocols and I have even heard some say that COVI-19 is a hoax.
We are desperate for the virus to be gone soon and for a vaccine that will enable us to return to our normal lives. In the meantime, this experience has taught us that we need to be even stricter with our hygiene measures for everybody’s sake. Our staff are now working more closely together and working to protect each other. They are also working to make sure that the clinic stays safe.
I appreciate them and the efforts they are making more than ever. Yes, times are uncertain but we are ready, whatever they bring.
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