By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

THE veterinarian who runs the island’s private animal clinic says his plea to the government is not about money but about providing the best care animal lovers can give their pets.
Dr. Edgar Tudor, owner of the Paradise Island Animal Clinic, last week showed this reporter around his “pet hospital” on Middle Road in Chalan Laulau.
The clinic’s facilities include an x-ray machine, adjustable beds and computerized diagnosis equipment.
Most of these, he said, are state-of-the-art and the government-run clinic does not have such equipment.
He said his clinic may have to close its doors “because our suppliers won’t stand for not being paid.”
This, he added, is the reality of business “and should not be unfamiliar to anyone.”
When his clinic shuts down, the Department of Lands and Natural Resources’ As Perdido clinic may not be able to provide all the necessary services for pets, Tudor said.
DLNR Secretary Ignacio Dela Cruz said the clinic was put up to help poor pet owners.
Tudor said he believes Dela Cruz, but added that he has never met a single veterinarian that didn’t want to help the poor.
“It’s like saying I’ve never met a nun that didn’t want to help the poor,” he said.
According to Tudor, he has dedicated his life to helping others and being a veterinarian is his way of doing it.
He believes being a veterinarian is more of a calling than a profession.
Money is a “by-product of what I do, not the overriding goal.”
But he said he wants to make it clear that his clinic cannot stay open to do good things without money.
“I don’t think in terms of money for service — I think in terms of helping the patients in the most efficient, effective way possible,” he said.
At his clinic, he said, they look at the patient first before determining the client’s ability to pay.
Usually, he added, they let the pet owner pay the bill over time “because it makes no sense to put off treatment until money is put up front.”
“Quite frankly, a lot of my clients don’t have the money to put up-front and for most of my working career I didn’t either, so I understand the problem through personal experience,” Tudor said.
“Your tax dollars are not at work here,” he added, and “we don’t need the government of the CNMI providing veterinary care if they can’t even manage the Commonwealth Health Center or the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.”
Tudor earlier said his clinic was competing with the government which, he added, is not supposed to happen in a free market economy