After waiting for almost three years since the closure of the vet clinic in Villimale’ it appears that pet owners might finally be getting the affordable vet service that they have been waiting for.
Source: Twitter @MaleCitymv
One thing that is as important as having a good hospital for many people would be the availability of an animal shelter or veterinary service in their city. With the large number of domesticated animals that people keep as pets, which they develop a close solid bond with, the health and care for the said pet to most pet owners is as important as caring for their own child.
Due to the growing demand for a veterinary service that could provide the treatment and care that pet owners were seeking, on January 2019 the Ministry of Fisheries, Marine Resources and Agriculture opened a veterinary clinic in Villimale’.
This clinic provided surgeries, treatments and vaccines for an affordable price. With the price range for most treatments costing between MVR 50- MVR 100 - the veterinary service was a short-term solution provided by the Ministry at the time due to the increasing public outcry.
However, while the public expected the Government to keep the clinic running due to the increasing need for a veterinary clinic in the Maldives, after being operational for only two years the Ministry of Fisheries officially closed down the clinic in 2021.
As this was the Maldives' first-ever veterinary clinic, the clinic's closure sparked widespread outrage among pet owners, who saw the one thing they had been waiting for for so long taken away from them after only two years of operation.
Not long after, a privately owned vet clinic name ‘Oasis’ was opened up in Male’ city. And while pet owners were desperately looking for treatments and care for their pets, due to the institution being privately owned the price range was no longer affordable to most pet owners.
The MVR 50 consultation fee was no longer the price, and most people had to resort to posting the treatments they could not afford on different platforms to raise funds in order to cover the veterinary clinic bills. In a way, to many, it was as if a vet clinic never opened up since the closure of the service being provided in Villimale’- given the price range of the new clinic.
Possibility of a new vet clinic?
After waiting for almost three years since the closure of the vet clinic in Villimale’ it appears that pet owners might finally be getting the affordable vet service that they have been waiting for.
On August 31, 2022, the Male’ City Council made a decision to build an institution that would cover both vet services working as a pet shelter, all on the City Councils' own funds. With the work for this new vet clinic set out to start in January 2023, the City Council Mayor has also expressed his hopes of finishing up the works of the clinic and having the facility fully operational within 2023.
“Even if we call it a cat shelter or animal facility, we will build the place to treat animals, including veterinary services”
With the issues faced by the pet community in addition to the increasing problems faced due to the increasing number of diseases and other issues related to stray cats, the opening of this vet service in the Maldives may finally bring solutions to these issues.
