South Africa is facing a dwindling veterinary labour force. While role players have called for swift action from government to increase the flow of new vets into the field, national government says there is little it can do about the shortage. And money is part of the problem.
Dr Fhumulani Munyai, chairperson of the heritage and transformation committee at the South African Veterinarian Council (SAVC), previously told Food For Mzansi that the council was deeply concerned about the lack of veterinarians and vet practices, especially in rural parts of the country.
Where the international norm is to have between 200 and 400 veterinarians per million of a country’s population, the figure in South Africa currently sits at about 60 or 70 vets per million.
Even though the national department of agriculture, land reform and rural development has implemented its compulsory community service (CCS) veterinarian programme in an effort to address this, fixing Mzansi’s vet shortage will require more than the deployment of a few graduates to specific areas.
Department spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo tells Food For Mzansi that one of the major stumbling blocks is there being only one university in South Africa – the University of Pretoria – that is training veterinarians at its animal health facilities at Onderstepoort. It is not producing enough veterinarians to meet the country’s needs.
“Secondly, there is not enough budget in the state to employ the required number of veterinarians needed for state veterinary services.”
A total of 163 community service vets were deployed this year. “The intake for 2021 was 158 and for 2022 it is currently 151. The CCS programme will not completely address the shortage of veterinarians in the country,” he cautions.
CCS veterinarians are employed by the department for a period of 12 months as required by the Veterinary and Para-Veterinary Professions Act (Act No. 19 of 1982). The programme is in seventh consecutive year and was introduced by the then department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries (DAFF) in 2015.
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Farmers feeling the pinch
Farmers are already feeling the effects of the shortage. Despite Zimasa Leputla, spokesperson for the Free State department of agriculture and rural development, denying a vet shortage in the province, livestock breeders recently described state vet services in the province as chaotic. Some stated that getting a state veterinarian to visit their farms was close to impossible.
“We don’t have a shortage of vets in the Free State. There is really no shortage of vets,” Zimasa said in response.
Meanwhile, national minister Thoko Didiza told the portfolio committee on agriculture last year that the province had a total of 15 field veterinarian positions, of which ten were filled. “The ratio of mature livestock units [to veterinarians] is approximately 50 000 livestock units to a veterinarian,” she added.
The Free State was allocated 14 community service vets this year.
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‘Ultimately, the animals will suffer’
Meanwhile, Dr Didi Claassen, Afrivet’s executive for technical and marketing support, tells Food For Mzansi that a loss of existing veterinarians is part of the problem. A sufficient number of vets are apparently graduating, but that many qualified vets are leaving the country and the profession.
“[This] is complicated and is happening worldwide. [Globally,] veterinarians have one of the highest suicide rates as a profession. The working conditions are not healthy and vets are not appreciated as a profession or as people.”
Claassen says that the South African government does not list vets or related professions as essential work, and vets and para-vets are not appreciated for what they are worth.
“We know it is an essential service, especially with controlled diseases. If vets do not work, people also get sick. So it is a bunch of little things that make it tough for vets and para-vets.
“Some stick it out. Some leave. But it is a crisis we need to address. The fact that there are too few vets left are not helping the burnout and compassion fatigue situation.”
The vet shortage is not only bad for humans, but for animals too, says the national council of SPCAs’ public relations officer, Keshvi Nair.
“The veterinary profession is a scarce skill. Ultimately it is the animals who are going to be detrimentally affected if there is a shortage of veterinarians.”
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