Chairman’s Report
Terry Casey
Chairman SA Equine Veterinary Association Cell: 083 327 0237
To start I think it is appropriate to congratulate the new
Vet council members that are about to take office. I
am sure the whole profession will agree that we need
to give Clive Marwick and the outgoing Vet council
a huge vote of thanks for the work that they have
done over the past few years. In my humble opinion,
Vet council has certainly become more active when
dealing with its members over the last few years.
SAEVA also needs to thank Vet Council for another
reason. Recently Vet council allowed the SAEVA
board to rent its boardroom for a bilateral meeting
with representative members of the equine insurance
industry. I think that we will agree that over the last
few years more and more of our clients are making
use of the insurance industry to cover their veterinary
expenses. This has led to some confusion in the equine
industry between the horse owner, the veterinarian
involved and the equine insurance industry. A frank
and interesting meeting was held with the involvement
of all the major equine insurance companies. The goal
behind this meeting was to establish a transparent
working relationship between the veterinarians and
the insurance companies. I think that the meeting
succeeded admirable in achieving this. A continuation
of the meeting will be held at next year’s congress
(more about this later) in the form of a panel discussion.
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SAEVA has given an undertaking to the insurance
profession to produce an insurance certificate that is
agreeable to all the insurance companies as well as
the equine veterinarians.
I would like to urge all members of our profession to
respect the insurance companies. A major complaint
of theirs was that veterinary medical claims had
increased exponentially over the last few years
not always legitimately. Many of them stated that
veterinary medical cover was a loss leader and they
were considering abolishing it. I think that we will all
agree that this led to us, veterinarians, practicing a
poorer quality of medicine. I URGE ALL VETERINAINS
TO PRACTICE TRANSPARENTALLY WITH THE
INSURANCE COMPANIES.
For the last few years SAEVA chairman or his
representative has been going to the British Equine
Veterinary Association (BEVA) congress. This year
it was held in Birmingham. I urge all members to
consider going to this congress at least once. SAEVA
has a reciprocal arrangement in place with BEVA so
we would all be able to register at BEVA members
rates. The congress is always of the highest academic
quality with something to please everyone during
every session.
• Equine Health Update •