Under the MVC Directive 1/2013 issued by the Council, any registered veterinary surgeon who desires to renew his/her annual practicing certificate (APC) or temporary permit to practice (TPP) shall satisfy the continuous professional development requirements prior being granted an APC or a TPP.

The veterinary surgeon is required to show evidence (certificate of attendance signed by the organizer) in updating their skills and knowledge in the practice of veterinary medicine and veterinary science.

The guiding principle of CPD is that all veterinary surgeons keep up with the ever-growing knowledge not only in veterinary science and medicine as well as keep abreast with development for the betterment of the professional standing of veterinary surgeons in all fields of practice.

1. veterinary conferences, congresses (of at least 8 hours in duration); which includes VAM, MSAVA, MAFAV, regional (Sabah, Sarawak), affiliate/associate associations/special interest groups (SIG) of Veterinary Association Malaysia as well as regional and international veterinary conferences i.e. WVA, CVA, IPVS, APVS, FAVA
2. veterinary annual general meetings (AGM) of the those mentioned in (a);
3. seminars, workshops, training courses (of at least 1 hour duration) organised by those mentioned in (a), as well as institutions of higher learning and organisations in veterinary and animal sciences/medicine, animal welfare, research as well as veterinary economics, medical-allied, finance, management, human resource management and quality management accreditations(the list is not exhaustive);
4. presentations or publications - papers or poster papers, clinical cases in publications/workshops and activities of veterinary surgeons that promote veterinary practice skills and knowledge in allied sciences;
5. as resource personnel and education of veterinary surgeons, public and industry;
6. participation in professional activities recognized by the council and
7. other programs as may be approved by the Council in writing

VAM has been appointed as the coordinator for the CPD program by the MVC and shall closely link with the CPD providers as follows:

• To ensure the CPD programs are of suitable quality
• To allocate the appropriate points
• To give out the approval codes
• To collect the names of the vets who have attended the course/courses/ parts of the courses
• To enter the appropriate points of the vets into the database that is accessible to the MVC

A database of approved CPD activities will be available on the VAM website.

VAM shall be transparent in the CPD implementation and MVC will, where necessary, audit the CPD programs and implementation.

The credit points required to qualify for the renewal of APC or TPP are shown in the Second Schedule of the Directive. The applicant is allowed to carry over excess points for only 1 calendar year for the application for an APC or TPP in the following year.

CPD providers will include VAM and its Special Interest Groups, Affiliates and relevant Associations, Federal and Other DVS-Associated training programs, JPHPT (DVS) Sabah and Sarawak Veterinary Division programs as well as programs planned by UMK and UPM/CENTRAS.

The CPD Timetable of programs and eligible points according to the present Schedule II of the MVC Directive shall be put up on the website and shall be available to CPD providers and Veterinary Surgeons. 

Upon application by the organizer, if the event constitutes an acceptable CPD event, VAM will issue out a notice/approval to the sponsor/organizer with the following details:

• Approval code: xxxx
• CPD point entitlement
• Requirement for the trainer- a temporary permit to practice (TPP) may be required if the CPD event involves actions defined in 'practice of veterinary medicine'.

The sponsor/organizer can subsequently inform in their advertisement or invitation

• the approval code and
• the CPD point entitlement.

Other CPD providers will be required to obtain VAM authorization to be a CPD provider.
Their CPD event approval code and credit points will be determined by VAM.

Contact information for the CPD Committee:

E-mail: cpdvam@gmail.com

CPD providers shall provide information to the attendees on the eligible credit points and shall award the points to the attendees of CPD activities.

 

All veterinarians are expected to active members of the veterinary fraternity. As such participation in veterinary associations, institution of higher education and veterinary education facilities is part and parcel of our professionalism. In addition, veterinary surgeons are to be educated and be familiar with skills required for practice which include economics, finance, administration, human resource and management systems.

Visit the various websites and subscribe to the various publications of various organisations for more details on their programs.

The applicant shall fill up the form in the Third Schedule of the Directive, append the certificates of attendance or other documents as evidence and shall submit with the form of renewal of APC or TPP with the required renewal fees.

The dateline of submission of CPD follows the application for renewal of APC and TPP which is reiterated below:

The cut off date for submission for APC application is 1st December under Section 17 (1) in the Veterinary Surgeons Act. Applications received after the cut-off date will be subjected to penalty fees under Section 17 (4) before an APC can be issued.
In the case of the submission for TPP application, the recommended date for resubmission is
2 months before the expiry of the date stated in the TPP. Submissions after 1 month prior to expiry will be subjected to penalty fees.

As the recommended date to submit APC/TPP applications to MVC is 1st November, the
12 month period for CPD points accumulation will be adjusted to:-
               ‘As from 1st Oct to 30th Sep of the following year’.