Statutory membership exam success celebrated

Seventeen overseas-qualified veterinary surgeons who succeeded in passing the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Statutory Examination for Membership, were on Monday (26 July) admitted to the RCVS Register and may now practise in the UK.

To mark the occasion, a ceremony was held at Belgravia House for the registrants, their friends and families. After the veterinary surgeons’ names were entered into the Register, RCVS President, Mr Peter Jinman, made a short address to welcome those attending, and presented the new Members with their certificates.

“Today is a celebration not just for those registering but for all of you,” he said, acknowledging the importance of the support provided to vets by their friends and family.

He also encouraged those who were newly graduated to sign up for the Professional Development Phase as the route to postgraduate education, saying that: “Education does not stop today [with registration]; indeed it is just a closing of one chapter and tomorrow is the opening of another, for learning is a lifelong experience.”

Mr Tutsirai Changara (pictured), a veterinary surgeon from Zimbabwe, said the statutory membership exam was “challenging” and that he had spent the past year seeing small animal practice in the UK as preparation. The process “really gives a sense of the gravity of being admitted into the veterinary profession in the UK,” he said.