Veterinary Services Pillar Of Food Security, Public Health

KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 (Bernama) -- Veterinary services are a key pillar in safeguarding food safety, public health and animal welfare worldwide, Agriculture and Food Safety Ministry (KPKM) deputy secretary-general (development) Datuk Luqman Ahmad said.

He said the role aligned with this year’s World Veterinary Day theme, “Veterinarians: Guardians of Food and Health,” which recognises the profession as being on the front line in ensuring the quality of the food supply chain and public health.

“Not many realise that veterinary services are responsible for ensuring that food supply is safe, clean, high-quality and halal throughout the entire production chain - from farm to table.

“This is carried out by frontline personnel from both the public and private sectors, namely veterinarians and paraveterinarians, whom we celebrate today,” he said at the World Veterinary Day celebration and customer engagement event organised by the Veterinary Services Department (DVS) in Selangor today.

He added that food security has become an important benchmark of a country’s ability to ensure sufficient food supply for its population.

He said Malaysia must take more serious steps to strengthen its national food system to be more resilient and sustainable in ensuring progressive economic and social development.

“This includes efforts to improve performance across all activities related to production factors, processing, distribution, preparation and food safety,” he said.

He added that the agri-food sector faces various global and domestic challenges, including population growth, global warming and land-use competition, which require more effective strategies.

He also pointed out that veterinary services carry a major responsibility in ensuring the country can produce sufficient supplies of meat, milk, eggs and poultry to meet the Self-Sufficiency Ratio (SSR) for livestock products.

Meanwhile, Veterinary Services director-general Mohd Noor Hisham Mohd Haron revealed that a shortage of human capital was among the biggest challenges faced by the country’s veterinary sector.

He said Malaysia currently has about 2,600 active veterinary practitioners, while international benchmarks indicate the country needs at least 8,500 veterinarians to meet current demands.

According to Mohd Noor Hisham, the DVS is short of more than 5,900 veterinary professionals, with a current ratio of about one veterinarian per 13,700 people, far from the ideal international ratio of 1:5,000.

“These statistics clearly indicate that the country’s needs far exceed current capacity. Therefore, the development of veterinary human capital must continue to be prioritised to better meet future demands,” he said.

He added that currently only two public higher education institutions offer Doctor of Veterinary Medicine programmes - Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) - producing about 180 to 220 graduates annually.

“This is still insufficient to meet the country’s growing needs. We welcome the recent development where Management and Science University (MSU) launched its Doctor of Veterinary programme in August 2025, and several other institutions have also shown interest in this field,” he said.

-- BERNAMA