Vets leave SA in droves

Situation is bad in rural areas where animal clinics are closing.

- Liezl Human

A massive shortage of veterinarians in the country has left vacancies in clinics, especially in rural areas, and vets are leaving the country en masse.

About 100 veterinarians leave SA every year to work overseas, while only about 140 qualify annually, according to recent figures by the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development.

Paul van der Merwe, president of the South African Veterinary Association (Sava), said the crisis is particularly felt in rural areas, where there is often a lack of equipment or medicines, and clinics frequently close down.

According to an answer given in parliament by the minister of agriculture, there were 455 state veterinary positions last year.

Of these, 129 (about 28%) were vacant. This compares to a 35% vacancy rate in 2019. (The numbers in the parliamentary answer should be treated with caution because some don't add up.) The situation is most serious in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

South Africa has just shy of 4 000 registered vets, of whom about 230 are specialists, which comes to just over 60 vets per million people.