Indonesians Short of 6,000 Veterinarians

Denpasar, Bali - The agriculture ministry's Director General of Livestock and Animal Health Prabowo Respatio Caturroso said Indonesia is still short of 6,000 veterinarians. "On the thousands of islands in Indonesia, we expect one island has at least one veterinarian. But the fact is that many remote islands in the country don't have a veterinarian at all," said Prabowo in Denpasar, Wednesday. He made the statement on World Rabies Day at Ksirarnawa Building, Cultural Park, Denpasar. Prabowo said the presence of a veterinarian on each island is very important to prevent the spread of animal diseases. "We are afraid that if each of the islands is not protected by a security system of animal health, animal diseases could enter and spread easily in the islands," He said. He said Indonesia has only 272 animal health clinics, while actually every sub-district should have one veterinarian clinic. "But many animal health clinics nowadays are not working properly because the veterinarians had left, especially in the remote regions with the lack of facilities and infrastructure," said Prabowo. He added, Indonesia only has 6,000 veterinarians from the least ideally above 20 thousand or even 60 thousand veterinarians. "The 6,000 veterinarians can at least be used to meet the needs of the islands," He said. Prabowo said fresh graduates of veterinary faculties seem to prefer working in the private sector instead of with the government. "In the future, we have planned to give an incentive to veterinarians in the regions to support their well being," he said.