Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ9: Vacancy and turnover situation of the Veterinary Officer
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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