Basic veterinary regime: Needs adequate attention

(Baonghean) -As a province with a developed livestock industry with a large herd, the grassroots veterinary network plays an important role in monitoring and preventing diseases for livestock and poultry. However, the current grassroots veterinary regime is not commensurate with the work they undertake. This reality needs an explanation from the authorities.

Grassroots veterinary staff are considered an indispensable force in the work of maintaining sustainable development of livestock farming. Circular No. 04/2009/TT-BNN of the Government stipulates: The commune veterinary force has very heavy functions and tasks, which are to monitor, inspect, detect, synthesize and promptly notify epidemics. Develop measures and plans to mobilize forces. Organize and guide veterinarians and livestock farmers to carry out disease prevention, disinfection, and treatment of sick livestock. Manage livestock breeds, animal feed, and food safety and hygiene in the commune. At the same time, plan and advise the People's Committees of communes to plan State management of livestock farming and veterinary medicine according to the law...

Nghe An has a large area, a large herd of cattle and poultry, about 750 thousand buffaloes and cows, over 1.2 million pigs and 15 million poultry. Animal husbandry is gradually becoming an industry with a high proportion in agricultural production (over 41%). However, the terrain is located on many national highways, trading and trading of animal products takes place regularly, in particular, our province has many large buffalo and cow markets, many large livestock and poultry collection and transit facilities, so the risk of spreading and spreading diseases is quite high.

Grassroots veterinary (Commune veterinary board) was established in 1994, according to Decision 957/QD.UB of the Provincial People's Committee. To clearly define the functions, tasks, regimes, and organization of veterinary activities in the area, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision 117/2006/QD.UBND on approving the Project "Organization of Commune-level Agriculture and Rural Development Board". Accordingly, the Commune veterinary board is a member of the Agriculture Board, with a general head and a number of grassroots veterinarians (each commune has 3-7 people). The whole province currently has 477 commune-level veterinary staff as heads of boards and over 1,950 veterinarians. Of which, 4.4% have been trained through university (21 people), 83.4% have intermediate level (380 people), 12.2% have primary level (56 people).

According to the assessment of Mr. Dang Van Minh - Deputy Head of the Provincial Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department, compared to the current scale of livestock development in our province, the existing veterinary team is not enough in terms of quantity. Basically, all communes have Chief Veterinary officers but cannot maintain a team of "centipedes" as grassroots veterinarians. Even in the strongly developed livestock areas such as Do Luong, Anh Son, Nam Dan, Nghi Loc... the veterinary force in many communes is almost inactive. Capacity and professional qualifications are still weak, lacking, and do not meet job requirements. Only from 2011 to June 2013, the whole province had FMD outbreaks in 18 districts, 66 communes, blue ear disease occurred in 16 districts, 124 communes and avian influenza occurred in 26 districts, 94 communes, forcing the destruction of dozens of buffaloes and cows, thousands of pigs and hundreds of thousands of poultry, causing losses of over 25 billion VND to farmers.

The role of monitoring and reporting epidemics by the grassroots veterinary team is not active. Typical examples include the FMD outbreaks in 2009 in Anh Son, 2010 in Tan Ky or the 2010 blue ear outbreak in Yen Thanh... the epidemic occurred on a large scale before being reported by veterinary staff. Many veterinary staff deliberately hid the epidemic for treatment, leading to late declaration of the epidemic, untimely handling of the epidemic, causing losses to livestock farmers. This has proven that the initiative and effectiveness of disease prevention work are not high.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Quoc - Head of the Nam Dan District Veterinary Station, said: The whole district currently has over 2,000 buffaloes and cows, nearly 3,000 pigs, over 110,000 poultry concentrated in 450 small and medium-sized household farms, 4 large-scale project-based farms, with a scale of 1,000 animals/farm or more. As of July 2013, the whole district has 144 veterinary staff belonging to the Commune Veterinary Board, including 24 heads of boards, the rest are village veterinarians. Many communes of Nam Phuc, Xuan Lam, Nam Thuong... do not have veterinarians, making it very difficult to monitor livestock diseases. Veterinary staff are mainly trained at intermediate, elementary and short-term training courses, so the capacity to handle, monitor and prevent livestock diseases is limited, especially at locations with high risk of disease safety such as Van Dien, Nam Thanh, Kim Lien, Nam Linh...

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan's livestock farm - Hamlet 8, Linh Son (Anh Son)

Lack of quantity and inadequate salary and allowance regime for veterinary staff are important reasons leading to lack of enthusiasm of veterinary staff in their work. The veterinary staff in the province exists under the contract mechanism of the Commune People's Committee. The District People's Committee approved after consulting with the District Veterinary Station. The working contract period is not less than 5 years. According to the spirit of the content of Official Dispatch 1569/TTg-BNN (2007) of the Government, veterinary staff in the Commune Agriculture Board are arranged with a minimum salary equivalent to a coefficient of 1. Due to budget difficulties, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 58/QD-UBND on allowing veterinary staff (Commune Veterinary Chief) to receive salary and allowance with a coefficient of 0.5%, equivalent to 525 thousand VND/month.

With this allowance, it is not enough to cover the cost of gasoline, vehicles, telephone... of veterinary staff. Ms. Vo Thi Luyen - Head of the veterinary department of Hung Xa commune (Hung Nguyen), confided, "During many FMD outbreaks, the commune did not have a veterinarian, so she had to run all the time on the road. Every year, we had to organize vaccinations 7 times, not to mention having to spray disinfectants twice a year. During the outbreaks, we had to inject additional FMD, blue ear, and avian influenza vaccines, report the epidemic daily to the veterinary station. Monthly meetings were held once at the district veterinary station..." With such a workload, the current low allowance was not enough for gasoline to travel. Trung Son commune (Do Luong) - a locality quite sensitive to blue ear disease in pigs. The whole commune currently has a large livestock and poultry herd, with a scale of 10 - 30 animals/household.

Mr. Phan Van Danh - Head of the commune veterinary department, said: "Currently, the grassroots veterinary team has 4 people, but it is difficult to manage them during epidemic prevention campaigns because they all work as assistants. There is no budget to pay employees. Many people do not recognize the signs of blue ear disease in pigs, so the commune veterinary chief has to personally check each barn. After that, it is necessary to deploy additional emergency vaccinations for the pigs in the whole commune. "Each day, they receive nearly 17,000 VND from the salary allowance, and are not allowed to participate in insurance. If you do not love the job, it is difficult to stick with the job for a long time."

In Do Luong district, due to the allowance regime not meeting the needs and specific nature of the work, currently 6 Chief Veterinary Officers have resigned. In many communes with strong livestock movements such as Giang Son Dong and Tan Son, veterinary staff have not been arranged and organized to work stably. In Nam Cuong and Nam Phuc communes of Nam Dan district, the Party member also holds the role of Chief Veterinary Officer of the commune... Many communes have to frequently change Chief Veterinary Officers, leading to neglect of disease surveillance work. In the entire Nam Dan district, only 1/24 Chief Veterinary Officers are participating in social insurance...

In addition, the grassroots veterinary team mostly operates on a seasonal contract basis, depending on the funding arrangements of each commune. Mr. Bui Minh Thong - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Hung Tien Commune (Nam Dan), said: With a large livestock herd, the risk of disease transmission is high. Currently, the commune only has 2/4 veterinary staff. The subsidy regime for each veterinarian is supported by the district's project with a coefficient of 0.2 minimum wage, equivalent to 100,000 VND/month. This source is taken from the vaccination public service of the grassroots veterinary itself. Due to people's lack of awareness of vaccination, the revenue from vaccination services per head/household in the year is very difficult to implement.

This is also the reason why the commune cannot arrange funds to build a network of veterinarians to meet the requirements. In mountainous districts such as Con Cuong, Tuong Duong, Anh Son, Tan Ky..., village veterinary staff do not have a subsidy regime. Currently, in general, the majority of grassroots veterinary staff across the province do not have allowances, their income is mainly from public service fees. However, there are also some localities that have paid attention to veterinary staff with specific policies, although still low. For example, Nam Dan district issued Decision No. 4691/QD - UBND on the implementation of the Project "Improving the quality of commune-level veterinary network activities in the period 2012 - 2016". Accordingly, the district implemented a mechanism to support the commune-level veterinary chief with 0.3% of the minimum wage coefficient, and grassroots veterinary staff with 0.2% of the coefficient...

Low salary, no salary, working in an environment without a specific management mechanism... These difficulties have led to poor epidemic monitoring, untimely epidemic reporting, causing widespread spread in localities. Through discussions with Mr. Dang Van Minh - Deputy Head of the Provincial Veterinary Department, to ensure that grassroots veterinary staff operate effectively and are committed to their work, the province and all levels of the industry need to pay attention to removing difficulties with specific solutions.

That is, there needs to be a consensus in assigning the District Veterinary Station to directly manage the profession and pay direct allowances to grassroots veterinary staff. Put into the civil service payroll mechanism for Commune Veterinary Chiefs so that they can stick with the job for a long time. Veterinary staff need to be concerned about paying social insurance. In particular, the province needs to pay attention to training and improving the qualifications of grassroots veterinary staff in two directions, which are to supplement funding for professional training and strengthen management by imposing sanctions on the veterinary team practicing freely without certificates.

In my opinion, paying attention to the regime and policies for the grassroots veterinary team in our province is also a legitimate aspiration of each veterinary officer. At the same time, it is a motivation to contribute to improving the effectiveness of disease prevention and control for livestock.

Luong Mai