South Africa has a critical shortage of veterinarians, affecting the health not only of domestic animals but also the nation’s livestock.
SOUTH Africa faces yet another threat to its food security – a critical shortage of veterinarians to keep the nation’s livestock healthy.
South African Veterinary Council (SAVC) president Dr Nandipha Ndudane said the crisis could have “a devastating effect” on livestock health and food safety and has asked the government to add the profession to the country’s critical skills list.
Just one institution – the University of Pretoria – offers the qualification and “alarming recent statistics show high numbers of vets leaving the country”, said Ndudane.
“This means South Africa faces a severe skills shortage in a profession that is deemed critical to ensuring food safety and security. We need to curb the brain drain and ensure our country has enough vets to meet its current and future animal health care and food production needs.”
South Africa only has 60 to 70 veterinarians per million citizens compared to the international norm of 200 to 400 vets per million.
“Already, there is anecdotal evidence that some veterinary positions, in both the private and public sectors, cannot be filled. Such a shortage can have an adverse effect on the availability and provision of veterinary services, especially to rural communities, with a devastating impact on livestock health and food safety.”
She said it was important that veterinary services be considered a critical skill because it would encourage foreign veterinarians and qualified vets to stay.
Ndudane said the SAVC had been liaising with the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, and both were urging the Department of Home Affairs to add vets to the critical list.
Agriculture Minister Angela Didiza said this month in her budget speech that “safeguarding our herd and animal health is a priority” as was “ensuring that agriculture plays an integral role in the economic reconstruction and recovery”.
Red Meat Producers Association chief executive officer and chairperson of the National Animal Health Forum, Gerhard Schutte, said the shortage of vets was very worrying for red meat producers. He said that, to his knowledge, the Ruminant Veterinary Association of South Africa (Ruvasa), which mainly dealt with rural vets, only had 300 members “and they are very dear to our industry”.
“There are about 1.2 million households in South Africa that own livestock and their access to vets is low, which creates a problem with them entering the industry, and also because they are dependent on their animals for income and food security,” said Schutte.
He said a very good system of abattoir inspection was in place to guarantee that no affected carcass went to the consumer, but for the industry to grow, the country had to convince trading partners that the national herd was not a risk.
“The local, private and state vets have to play an important role.”
NSPCA veterinary consultant Dr Bryce Marock said a recent poll by the South African Veterinary Association (Sava) showed that emigration was a major reason for the shortage of veterinary professionals in the country.
“The economic situation in South Africa does deter people from opening practices because often what people are willing or able to pay does not cover the costs associated with running a practice.
“To encourage veterinarians to stay, state and private companies should look at making South Africa more attractive than countries like Australia or the UK. Subsidisation of practices, especially those that assist in animal welfare, would be beneficial, but every field should be looking at it,” Marock said.
UCT veterinary technologist Jabu Magagula said a major factor in South Africa not matching the international ratio of veterinarians to the population was that just one university (Pretoria) catered for the Bachelor of Veterinary Science (BVSc). Only the first year of study is available at the Hatfield campus in Pretoria, with the remaining training done at its Onderstepoort campus.
“I understand that entry to this course is quite stringent and thus open to only a handful of people. Another reason is that there are more attractive opportunities outside the country, which also results in the already few vets migrating to those countries.”
Magagula said that considering the country’s demographics, “a large population of South Africans cannot afford the services of a veterinarian. Veterinary clinics therefore do not succeed in specific areas, particularly disadvantaged or poor communities.”
He said the burden was carried by non-profit organisations such as the SPCAs.
He encouraged the government to make veterinary services more accessible to the public, and make the course available to multiple institutions to provide more career opportunities.
The SAVC’s Ndudane agreed that many rural livestock owners who required veterinary services were hardest hit. One reason was because veterinarians were not willing to relocate to those areas to set up clinics.
“I have also been told it is not easy to obtain financial support to start veterinary clinics because most banks do not view veterinary businesses as viable businesses,” she said.
“The government does not have a fund to support private veterinary clinics. The state veterinary service mainly deals with disease surveillance and control and regulatory aspects, and generally does not provide clinical services for companion animals.
“The SAVC is partnering with the government, veterinary associations, organisations and academic institutions to promote the awareness of veterinary and para-veterinary qualifications and careers. There is a drive to attract students to the professions.”
