A TD has warned that “the big guy will always be the winner” under the changes to veterinary medicine regulations due to come into force next January.
Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice was speaking at a sitting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine yesterday (Tuesday, March 23) when he claimed that a vet or vets – who he did not identify – were advertising free prescriptions for veterinary medicines if the farmers bought the product from that vet.
The changes due to come into force in January will see prescriptions from vets become necessary for antiparasitic treatments.
However, Fitzmaurice indicated that he was aware of prescriptions already being advertised as necessary in some places.
There are certain places around the country advertising that you do need a prescription, and that the prescription was free if you bought the goods there.
“Now, if that starts, then God help the small farmer, because the big guy will always be the winner, because he will have buying power, to put it simply.
“That’s the big fear among farmers, and it is not scaremongering, it is reality,” Fitzmaurice added, stating that he had seen a copy of the advertisement in question.
In response this, the president of Veterinary Ireland, Conor Geraghty (who addressed the committee meeting), said: “There are going to be individuals who try and use a commercial edge in any sector, and I don’t think its limited to the veterinary sector.
There is quite an amount of competition in the veterinary sector at the moment.
“We see some of the tightest-margin products as being prescription-only products,” Geraghty pointed out.
“Farmers have the right to change their vet. Farmers will work with vets that help them manage their livestock and provide them with a service. This [prescriptions] will be just another part of the service,” the Veterinary Ireland president added.
Antibiotic Medicine
Geraghty also highlighted that the changes that will come into effect in January will affect not just antiparasitic treatments, but also antibiotics.
“The main change is that we can no longer relay on antibiotics as a preventative, we can only use them on sick animals,” he noted.
He explained: “That applies to blanket-treating animals brought in in case they get pneumonia; it applies to using CTC powder for calves that might get a cough; and blanket treatment for watery mouths in lambs. All these practices will no longer be allowed.”