Action Line 90407 - Vet appointments Published May 1, 2009 By 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey -- Complaint: I have spent the last two weeks trying to contact the Vet to get an appt for my dog so I can meet my PCS requirements. I finally got a hold of the technician at 0745 on 22 Apr 09 and I was told I need to call back during business hours 0800. The problem is that every time I call I get their voicemail which wouldn't be a problem except that the voicemail states don't leave a message because they can't retrieve them. If they aren't available to answer their phone and don't return phone calls, how are customers suppose to make an appt. I have wasted countless time and am very frustrated with the process is there a way to either make appointments available on line or give them the capability to check their voicemail so they can return calls. Response: We regret any inconvenience you may have experienced in trying to access our base veterinary services. Your inquiry has highlighted several areas of opportunity. First, the voice mail problems have been corrected and we are now able to retrieve messages. Unfortunately, access to vet appointments has been limited recently due to the loss of the contract vet. Everyone should understand that our active duty veterinarian's primary job is support for the military working dog program and as our DoD Food Source Approval inspector in and around Turkey, not just here at Incirlik AB. Her availability to support personal animals (pets) is limited as she travels a great deal and much of her time at the base is with the military working dogs. It is the member's responsibility to maintain the health of their animals and to obtain health certificates for their pets prior to PCS, regardless of the availability of on base veterinary services. Our base vet clinic maintains a list of off-base animal clinics that can easily take care of ill or injured pets or provide the required health certificates for PCS. Luckily, we expect a new contract veterinarian to start soon so access to on base veterinary care will improve. Additionally, we are going to develop a new webpage for the base vet where consumers can easily find information and availability of services. We are going to improve the communications systems within the clinic itself to allow faster access to those who need to talk to the clinic and maintain the voice mail message with up to date information on service availability. Again, we regret any inconvenience you may have suffered and thank you for your comments which offered us an opportunity to recognize and fix a couple of weaknesses, thank you again.