At a conference on veterinary work on April 20, Mr. Cao Duc Phat, former Deputy Head of the Central Economic Commission, and former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, shared his concerns as the veterinary system in many localities was broken.

Over the past two decades, one major livestock pandemic occur every four years. Leading experts have given out warnings that in the future there will definitely be new pandemics. We just don't know when it will happen and what it is.

When the first outbreaks of avian flu occurred in our country, Prof. Dr. Dau Ngoc Hao met me and said, “We don't know what it is yet. We dissected the dead chicken and found that its liver and intestines were all inflamed."

At that time, no one took precautions and wore protective clothing. Later, it was reported that if infected with the virus that caused avian flu, up to 70% of cases would result in death.

The role of the veterinary system is therefore extremely important. Over the years we and the Department of Animal Health go to each locality, sometimes even to districts to persuade to build a team of veterinary staff in every commune and village.

The People's Council of Thanh Hoa province has issued a Resolution to have a basis for the allocation of a support budget, having veterinary officers in each commune to perform the task of monitoring the epidemic situation and giving advice on veterinary work to authorities at all levels. But unfortunately, now when I ask again, that system has disappeared.

Veterinary medicine is a technical specialty, so countering epidemics on animals, like countering epidemics in human medicine, must base on science. Technical staff is the fulcrum of science and technology. So we need to continue our persuasion together from central to local to maintain the veterinary system. It is not easy, but very essential.

Also during the past 20 years, we keep arguing with each other about whether to merge the Department of Animal Health with the Department of Livestock Production; The Department of Crop Production and the Department of Plant Protection, or even the Institute of Veterinary Medicine and the Institute of Livestock Production.

After hearing the explanation from experts, as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development at that time, I realized that my knowledge about the content of this issue was still at the bare minimum. I previously thought that veterinary or animal husbandry was only related to pigs and cows. There was no reason not to merge the two agencies into one to take care of the same object.

But that was not the case. The Department of Animal Health and the Department of Livestock Production had different research and management subjects, abiding by completely different rules. The Department of Livestock Production and the Institute of Livestock Production managed and researched factors that promote growth and reduce production costs. The Department of Animal Health and the Institute of Veterinary Medicine managed and researched bacteria, viruses and disease-causing agents. The pig and the virus were obviously two different objects.

Because of such difference, the rules of birth and the spread of viruses and bacteria require a specific prevention and control system. That's why we have both the Law on Animal Husbandry and the Law on Veterinary Medicine instead of merging the regulations of these two areas into one. In the same sense, we have these two laws - the Law on Cultivation and the Law on Plant Protection and Quarantine.

Each state agency was born to enforce a law. That is the reason why the Department of Animal Health and the Department of Plant Protection go hand in hand and operate independently in the organizational apparatus of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Each law is considered the soul, strength, and responsibility of that organization.

Translated by Samuel Pham