Our vision is to preserve and nurture the human-animal bond: Dr Vinod Sharma, Director,DCC

Shahid Akhter, editor, ETHealthworld, spoke to Dr Vinod Sharma, Head of Veterinary Service Division and Director at Dogs, Cats and Companions (DCC), Delhi, to know more about pet care and the role of technology in leveraging pet health during the pandemic.

• What role according to you does tech play in these changing times, coping with pet and pet parents in terms of pet health?
  Technology has undoubtedly proved to be a boon in healthcare and the possibilities of advancement are endless. At a time where humans themselves are avoiding stepping out and greatly depending on technology from ordering food and medicines to booking vaccination appointments and to leveraging online products and services for almost every aspect of their life, it has become unimaginable to do anything without some tech intervention and this trend has taken over in healthcare services to a large extent.

When it comes to taking appropriate measures for pets at home, technology has the power to change the way a pet parent approaches pet health, the way they maintain and address pet’s health issues. Making it ‘simple’ is the keyword here. Adaptive and flexible is a nature of tech by way of which changing situations can be handled smartly. Our seamless interface via website allows the pet parent to do a self-booking basis which automatically a telehealth link is generated and shared, the pet parent also has the option of rescheduling the same. Also in case of in person appointment, a confirmation.

How has your role evolved as a veterinarian to ensure pet health in these times of change?
My role as a veterinarian is one of maintaining pet’s health and helping a pet when things get tough. Driven by compassion in the 30 years of my experience I have only focussed on making my pets happy and healthy and be in any circumstance that will be my commitment. Our team of vets at DCC are driven by the same mission to ensure we be flexible to adapt to various circumstances like the pandemic but our service to pets doesn’t stop.

Newer ways and technologies are not a must for professionals across fields so it was no different for me. Working with the team at DCC internally we came up with ideas to breakdown the journey of a pet parent seeking help for their pet and identified various technology driven plug and plays to ensure pet health is seamless. We believe in the concept of Pet2Partner. Our vision is to preserve and nurture the human-animal bond. We treat our pets with respect and care. We believe that pets are a part of our society

Our teams are in the process of building a proprietary tech tool to further ease access for pet parents as we realise that if we are to drive this journey of Pet 2 Partner, building easy connections could be a valid key. Our team works on tools which can simplify veterinary in India and revolutionise how veterinary is perceived and also shift the focus to prioritising pets in our society.

Through our various consumer connects, we have realised that knowledge about pet wellness and correct way to take care of them is very disjointed amongst pet owners. Hence, to ensure myths don’t affect mindset of pet parents, we don’t want our pets getting abandoned so as a member of the society and with the gift of knowledge we have tried reaching out to many at personal or professional level to ensure knowledge dissemination. Each one of us at DCC has played that role. We are part of various groups on social media that pet parents interact on and that in the true sense has been very helpful for us to allow spread of information easing anxieties of pet parents and ensuring pets have a good life.

• How is your telehealth differentiated from other players in the veterinary segment?

We firstly have our own platform and are not resting on a third party platform also since tech enabling is a key focus area for DCC. So, to make sure interface quality, payment systems and privacy is well maintained we work on our own platform.

We also make sure we have form prior to the telehealth consultation duly filled in by pet parents so that we know the background and the telehealth session is as informative as it gets moving the conversation to a resolution for pet’s health

Our local clients are supported via logistic tie ups for deliveries from pharmacies, home delivering medicines for the pets once teleconsultation is done. This allows the pet parents to either recuperate or stay safe and get end to end pet health related help from DCC.

To add to that, there were times when physical check-ups were recommended for pets to certain local pet parents basis telehealth, for such cases we facilitate pet taxi service to ensure a safe home pick up following all Covid related protocols. Well trained staff members from our boarding facility personally visit their homes and brings pets to the hospital for check-up and dropped back home with prescription and medicines.

With all these measures and more, we are working on changing the eco system of pets in our society and humanising the experience, given access to medical facilities so all that we can do now and in future.

• How do you ensure a safe environment and hygiene for pets at the facility especially during times of pandemic? Some ways you actually implemented.

At DCC Animal Hospital during these times our focus has been on ensuring the trust of pet parents and their comfort of visiting us/interacting with us. So while on ground we were functional with safety protocols in place in line with the government guidelines, we ensured including safety elements executed for instance, waiting in the car while the pet gets examined, Only 2 customers socially distant at a time at the reception, doctors have SOPs of regular covid tests in place, staff working with masks at all times, ensuring cleanliness with disinfectants after each patient visit. We made thermal check and sanitisation mandatory for entering hospital

We also encouraged and introduced telehealth, for follow up visits for existing and new clients where physical diagnosis of the pet wasn’t a necessity. Contactless payments and online bookings via website/by calls were encouraged. Telehealth being a key addition we made at this time, we made it a pan India initiative where anyone from any part of the country could connect with our doctors to take advice, as long as it did not require physical check-up. Objective being to reach out to max pet parents who either are in smaller towns with lesser access to good veterinary services, whether it meant taking a second opinion and locally it meant cutting down on in person follow up visits yet ensuring pet’s health is covered. We have garnered a lot of love and response from South India and also locally.

Our efforts went beyond launching telehealth, as we are constantly working on content that can help pet parents help in diagnosis when in a virtual consultation, so guide like videos and content to identify symptoms or to train them how to help the vet. We want to inculcate a culture of regular health check-ups for pets and also aid pet parents to up their knowledge on pet health.