Many municipalities that cannot hire veterinary staff hire agricultural cadastral officers in charge of veterinary services. However, not all agricultural cadastral officers are trained in veterinary medicine and hold certificates of practice.
Because of this, municipalities have to deduct expenses for seasonal contracts with veterinary workers every 3 to 4 times a year, not to mention livestock epidemics. In some counties, animal and veterinary centers, even with small staff numbers, have to go to municipalities to support vaccination.
“Every year the community has to contract with veterinary staff and vet workers to vaccinate livestock, let alone when epidemics occur. Now the people here mainly engage in small livestock farming, so it is very difficult to detect and prevent diseases, and the community does not have the resources to contract for seasonal vaccinations. said Ho Van Ka Rai, chairman of the People’s Committee of Huc Township in Huong Hoa District.
The lack of veterinary staff makes the place in disease prevention very confused. Hoang Dinh Binh, head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Huong Hoa District, said that the Huong Hoa District People’s Committee, which is currently experiencing difficulties in recruiting veterinary staff in the municipality, sent an official cable to the Huong Hoa Provincial People’s Committee have sent Interior Ministry of Quang Tri Province. Recommendations for adjusting the criteria.
Accordingly, the Huong Hoa District People’s Committee proposed that the supervisors should have certain criteria, for the highland district, the community veterinary staff only need to have an intermediate level, a certificate of veterinary practice. However, no response has been received to this letter. So in the whole district there are still 9 communes that have not yet hired veterinary staff.
“If it can be confirmed according to the criteria, the remaining 9 townships of Huong Hoa District will be very difficult to recruit veterinary staff. The mountain area is very large, without veterinary staff, disease prevention and control will be very difficult. In a mandatory situation, when an epidemic occurs, the county animal husbandry and veterinary station must “request” the provincial sub-department of animal husbandry and animal health to step up to ensure disease prevention. Mr Binh said.
Mr. Nguyen Trung Hau, director of Quang Tri Province Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine Subdivision, stressed that the animal husbandry wants to keep the village veterinary forces, but there is no legal basis to keep the team.
As for the intermediate level requirement for municipal veterinary staff, it aims to allow veterinary staff to become part-time and part-time staff in the future to increase income and help to be more committed to their profession.
The theory is so, but the practice does not match the aspirations of the veterinary industry in Quang Tri Province. The counseling center had not expected this situation.
“Before Resolution 161, the skilled force might have been able to meet the qualifications, but after that many people went to work on farms with high wages, so there was a lack of human resources,” Mr. Hau said.
Mr. Hau added that the sub-department’s staff is currently thin, making it difficult to mobilize additional staff when livestock epidemics occur, especially in mountainous areas. This poses a great risk of disease outbreaks, especially during the changing seasons.
After receiving the petition from the Huong Hoa District People’s Committee, the Quang Tri Interior Ministry sent an official letter to the Quang Tri Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on July 12, 2022, requesting that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development comment on the proposed proposal to the Provincial People’s Committee: Consider and agree that the Huong Hoa District People’s Committee temporarily recruit veterinary personnel with elementary qualifications or practice certificates in the field of veterinary medicine to arrange simultaneously 9 townships in Huong Hoa District upon application by 12/31/2025 for be trained and retrained to ensure the required professional qualifications.
The recruitment of veterinary staff remains stalled
On August 8, 2022, the Quang Tri Ministry of the Interior submitted a report to the Quang Tri Provincial People’s Committee on the proposal to review and unify the selection of veterinary staff. Up to this point, however, the Quang Tri Provincial People’s Committee and the Quang Tri Provincial People’s Council have not agreed on the selection of veterinary personnel.