Veterinary Officers at Kenya Veterinary Board

Job Specification

• This is the entry and training grade for this cadre. An officer at this level will work under the guidance and supervision of a Senior Officer and may be deployed in any of the following functional areas:

Registration and Licensing 

Duties and responsibilities will entail: -

• Issuing registration certificates and practicing licenses to practitioners;
• Assessing and verifying indexing, internship, registration, and licensing application forms for registration and licensing by the Board;
• Ensuring accuracy of indexing, internship, registration, and licensing data for approval;
• Ascertaining the required minimum qualifications for indexing and registration 
• Compiling and processing data on licensing applications;
• Assisting in processing of registration certificates and practicing licenses of Veterinary surgeons and Veterinary Paraprofessionals;
• Ascertaining a register of applicants for indexing, internship and registration; 
• Attending to and processing enquiries on registration and licensing of veterinary practices;
• Ascertaining correctness of registers of all licensed veterinary service delivery facilities;
• Ensuring document management including e-filing;
• Supervising and guiding officers working under him/her

Veterinary Research and Standards

Duties and responsibilities will entail: -

• Developing standards for inspection of institutions involved in veterinary and animal health training;
• Developing minimum requirements for entry into the various animal health courses
• Developing curriculum standards for training in animal health 
• Developing guidelines for pre-registration examinations;
• Developing telemedicine guidelines for practice by Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Paraprofessionals;
• Developing guidelines for consultant colleges;
• Developing CPD guidelines;
• Developing standards and policies to support the government on matters related to business, practice and employment of veterinary surgeons and veterinary paraprofessionals
• Developing standards for inspection of veterinary service delivery facilities; 
• Formulating and disseminating the Code of Ethics to all registered persons;
• Assessing data from desktop research on matters relating to animal health & welfare and public health and advising the Board on the best practices in regulation; 
• Developing guidelines for veterinary internship;
• Developing standards for registration, licensing and regulation of institutions and organizations involved in animal welfare.

Job Specification    

Education and Training

Duties and responsibilities will entail: -

• Verifying processed CPD applications, waiver requests, and registered and unregistered CPD activities; 
• Responding to day-to-day enquiries on education and training; 
• Maintaining a register of CPD applications, and waivers; 
• Reviewing and processing pre-registration examinations applications
• Conducting pre-registration examination for veterinary surgeons and veterinary paraprofessionals;
• Verifying submitted internship documents
• Assessing internship logbooks upon completion for registration purposes;
• Undertaking document management including e-filing 
• Analyzing curricula for training in veterinary and animal health against the set standards;
• Assessing from time-to-time the human resource and training programs necessary to guarantee sound and efficient veterinary service delivery.
• Conducting examination for foreign nationals seeking temporary registration and preparing reports to the relevant committee;
• Assessing the capacity of veterinary and Animal Health Institutions for registration;
• Processing pre-registration examination applications for veterinary surgeons and veterinary paraprofessionals;
• Monitoring veterinary and animal health graduates on internship;
• Supervising continuous professional development (CPD) for Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary paraprofessionals.

Veterinary Technologies 

Duties and responsibilities will entail: -

• Receiving application forms from persons or institutions seeking to deploy veterinary technologies and ascertaining the attachments for processing;
• Capturing data from persons or institutions applying to deploy veterinary technologies; 
• Processing enquiries on deployment of veterinary technologies in Kenya;
• Assisting in sensitization on the use of telemedicine guidelines 
• Maintaining a register of applicants seeking to deploy veterinary technologies in Kenya; 
• Assisting in supervising veterinary technologies deployed for practice in Kenya by Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary paraprofessionals.

Compliance

Duties and responsibilities will entail: -

• Conducting inspection of new and existing facilities offering veterinary services and including veterinary clinics, hospitals, laboratories, ambulatory, animal welfare organizations;
• Conducting inspection of veterinary and animal health training institutions;
• Enforcing veterinary standards on animal welfare;
• Sensitizing Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Paraprofessionals on the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Paraprofessionals (VSVP) Act, Regulations & Code of Ethics;
• Enforcing the reporting of notifiable diseases by practitioners
• Investigating cases of professional misconduct and malpractices; 
• Assisting in legal proceedings against those violating the VSVP Act and Regulations; 
• Participating in Board publicity activities such as agricultural shows, field days, and exhibitions; 
• Conducting data mining, intelligence gathering and surveillance to support enforcement of the VSVP Act and Regulations;
• Mining the data to support the legal action against the offenders of the VSVP Act.

Market Surveillance

Duties and responsibilities will entail: -

• Enforcing veterinary standards in animal welfare
• Instituting legal proceedings against those violating the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Paraprofessionals Act and Regulations; and closing down illegal veterinary practices
• Developing individual and joint inspection checklists;
• Identifying people and early warning signs of unlawful conduct to prevent malpractices.
• Sensitizing the public on Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Paraprofessionals (VSVP) Act, Regulations & Code of Ethics;
• Collecting surveillance data for report generation
• Addressing complaints related to market surveillance activities
• Gathering and evaluating market intelligence information
• Carrying out post market surveillance on the use of veterinary medicines and quality of veterinary services provided by licensed practices and facilities; and
• Analyzing market intelligence data.
• Participating in the enforcement of compliance with the Veterinary Code of Ethics;
• Utilizing the data from intelligence gathering and surveillance to support enforcement of the VSVP Act and Regulations;
• Deploying the market surveillance data to support the location, inspection and closing down of premises or ambulatory clinics operating contrary to the practices prescribed under the VSVP Act
• Utilizing the analyzed data to support processing of the legal actions against the offenders of the VSVP Act;
• Supporting the investigations into cases of professionals’ misconduct and malpractice;
• Processing research data for market surveillance relating to animal health & welfare and public health;
• Participating in development and implementation of market surveillance procedures and compiling market surveillance reports 

Complaints and Grievances Section

Duties and responsibilities will entail: -

• Reviewing filed complaints from the public on regulatory matters;
• Compiling data on the complaints received;
• Processing day-to-day enquiries on complaints handling mechanisms;
• Sensitizing the public on the complaints handling procedures and reporting mechanisms;
• Conducting investigations on complaints of professional misconduct, malpractice and breach of veterinary standards to be processed by the Board;
• Maintaining complaints register and supporting the Inquiries & Disciplinary Committee in recommending appropriate disciplinary action or prosecutions under the Veterinary Surgeons & Veterinary Para‑Professionals Act (VSVP Act)
• Guiding complainants and respondents on the complaint handling process, including rights and responsibilities, confidentiality and appeals
• Maintaining anonymized and confidential complaint-submission channels.
• Processing reviewed complaint findings to inform regulatory changes and remedial measures.
• Conducting preliminary processing of complaints of professional misconduct, malpractice and breach of veterinary standards;

Person Specification

For appointment to this grade an officer must have: -

• Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine (BVM) degree or an equivalent qualification from a recognized institution; 
• Registration by Kenya Veterinary Board and in good standing; 
• Proficiency in computer applications.