by Raffaella Commitante
Today was another day at the university. We had a lecture given by IPB staff on nutrition, focusing on orangutans.
Following that was a lecture on surgical techniques that was paired with a video tool that was in French! At first I ‘thought how is this going to work’? But it was really interesting. As you clicked on various surgical features and each link opened a video showing you a procedure – so it was fairly easy. The group followed along using kitchen sponges and surgical kits provided by the university.
The afternoon was dedicated to learning about echo cardiology. Aimee Drane of the International Primate Heart Project gave a session on using her portable equipment (in hopes that she might be able to find a sponsor to donate portable kits to our vet group). It was quite fun as one of our group, Joost, volunteered (well sort of) to be the subject. This brought many giggles from the women as he stripped down!
We were also able to meet with the Dean of IPB vet faculty to discuss future collaborations. Our lecturer on nutrition, Dr. Agus, is also an officer of IVMA (Indonesian Veterinary Medicine Association) and he discussed working with OC/OVAG to develop a special designation for orangutan vets.
This could be a very exciting collaboration as it would truly establish OC/OVAG as a vehicle of higher learning and expertise.
To learn more about the annual OC/OVAG Veterinary Workshops please click here.
The OC Blog is being written this month by Dr. Raffaella Commitante, OC Board Member and facilitator of the OC/OVAG Veterinary Workshop, which is being held in Bogor, Indonesia.