EDITORIAL — A dearth of veterinarians

It would seem that Cebu Province has a crisis where municipal veterinarians are concerned. As per a report in this newspaper, only 10 of the 53 local government units have their own municipal veterinarians.

These are the component cities of Toledo City, Bogo City, Carcar City, Danao City, Naga City, and Talisay City, while the municipalities of Minglanilla, Dalaguete, Barili, and Daanbantayan only have veterinarians assigned under their Municipal Agriculture Offices rather than through dedicated veterinary offices.

But this is where it gets tricky. Under the Local Government Code of 1991, municipal veterinarian positions are actually optional for municipalities. So if a local government unit decides it really doesn’t need one then it can opt not to get one, with no administrative consequences.

We suppose this is a fair rule; some local government units many not have enough budget for a municipal veterinarian to start with, never mind an entire office based around that one official.

The ideal situation is for every municipality to have one, but who are we to insist that they get one; like mentioned above, many towns may not actually have money for it.

But it should be said that the role of a municipal veterinarian is very important. And we don’t mean just for promoting animal health programs and encouraging the neutering and spaying of pets and stray animals, as well as preventing the possible spread of rabies.

We are still a largely agricultural country, meaning we have many farms. And animal farms and farm animals can become especially vulnerable to animal diseases.

And these animal diseases can also now be spread more easily, thanks to our improved transportation system. Even animal diseases from foreign shores can now arrive here via shipment. Remember bird flu and swine flu? We had recent outbreaks of those.

We don't even have to mention that it's heading into summer and animal diseases frequently proliferate during hot weather due to a combination of factors favorable to pathogen survival. This is also when viruses, bacteria, and parasites as well as disease vectors like insects and ticks become more active.

A veterinarian assigned to a municipality, or better yet, even an entire veterinary office assigned to a municipality is more important now than ever.