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Following is a question by the Hon Fred Li and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (April 21):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the current number of registered veterinary surgeons and, among them, the number of those employed in government departments and responsible for studying animal diseases and food safety;
(b) of the vacancy situation and turnover rate of the Veterinary Officer grade in the Government in each of the past five years; and
(c) whether the authorities had, in the past three years, planned to recruit additional Veterinary Officers in view of the problems of food safety and infectious diseases caused by animals; if they had plans, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(a) As at April 13, 2010, a total of 546 veterinary surgeons are registered in Hong Kong under the Veterinary Surgeons Registration Ordinance (Cap. 529), and 463 of them are issued with valid practising certificates. Among these registered veterinary surgeons with valid practising certificates, 333 declare practising addresses in Hong Kong, of which 28 are Government Veterinary Officers responsible for the control of animal diseases and food safety, 16 are hired by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Hong Kong), eight work at the Hong Kong Jockey Club, four are employed by the Ocean Park Hong Kong and the others are mainly in private practice.
(b) The number of vacancy and turnover figure of Government Veterinary Officers in each of the past five years are set out at the annex.
The Government has been keeping in view the vacancy and turnover situation of the Veterinary Officer grade in the Government. The Standing Commission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service also completed the salary and grade structure review for the Veterinary Officer grade in 2009. The Government will, in the light of operational exigencies, the vacancy situation and turnover rate, actively follow up the implementation of the recommendations set out in the review report, such as considering the creation of a new tier beyond the Senior Veterinary Officer rank to enhance government veterinary services as regards the control of animal diseases and food safety.
(c) The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) has always been striving to prevent and control the introduction and spread of animal diseases, including zoonotic diseases. The AFCD provides quarantine services and inspects animals and plants imported to Hong Kong. It also inspects local live food animal farms and monitor animal diseases on a regular basis. To further enhance animal management and control, the AFCD created two Senior Veterinary Officer posts and three Veterinary Officer posts in 2007.
The Veterinary Public Health Section under the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department was set up in 2006, with initially one Senior Veterinary Officer and five Veterinary Officers. The Section is responsible for the management of import inspection of live food animals, which includes inspection and investigation of farms supplying food animals to Hong Kong, surveillance of food of animal origin, management of animal diseases in slaughterhouses and veterinary drug residues, etc. In 2007, the CFS created a new post of Senior Veterinary Officer to take charge of the Slaughterhouse (Veterinary) Section, which is responsible for the management of slaughtering hygiene of live food animals supplied to Hong Kong, enhancement of pre-slaughtering inspection and testing as well as disease prevention and control. In 2008 and 2009, the CFS also created four new posts of Veterinary Officer, tasked with surveillance of Mainland farms supplying live food animals to Hong Kong, and enhancing communication with Mainland animal health authorities in regard to reporting the disease situation of food animals supplied to Hong Kong.
Since the establishment of the CFS in 2006, we have handled food safety issues well and effectively controlled the prevention of diseases in animals. Our work has been widely recognised by international health and animal health organisations. Veterinary Officers have fully served their role. Further recruitment of additional Veterinary Officers is not required at this stage.
Ends/Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Issued at HKT 14:49
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