KUCHING: Sarawak is a step closer to producing its own veterinarians locally as discussions with Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) on programme accreditation enter the final stage.
Minister of Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development Datuk Seri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom said the initiative is part of the state government’s efforts to address the shortage of veterinarians and strengthen Sarawak’s livestock industry.
He said Sarawak should continue benchmarking its veterinary sector against international standards, as the state currently has only 37 veterinarians compared with roughly 4,000 in Brazil, highlighting the need to develop more local expertise.
“The Sarawak government has been working to facilitate an increase in the number of veterinarians.
“So we are probably in the final stage of discussions with Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) on accreditation so that Sarawak will be able to produce its own veterinarians locally and the Cabinet paper is almost ready,” he said.
He said this in his speech when officiating at the Department of Veterinary Services Sarawak (DVS) Appreciation Ceremony at a hotel here last night (July 18).
Dr Rundi also revealed that the Sarawak government has approved 84 new positions for DVS to strengthen its workforce.
Meanwhile, DVS director Datuk Dr Adrian Susin Ambud expressed hope that the creation of 84 new positions would boost staff morale and help ease the department’s growing workload, acknowledging that many officers regularly sacrifice weekends to carry out inspections and serve the public.
He said the department would continue strengthening its workforce as it works towards increasing the livestock industry’s value to RM6 billion by 2050 through teamwork and dedicated officers.
In the near term, Dr Adrian said DVS is targeting RM1 billion in export value and RM10 billion in industry revenue by 2030 as part of its efforts to further develop Sarawak’s livestock sector.
To achieve these ambitions, he said the department will continue strengthening its workforce, with a long-term target of increasing its manpower to 1000 personnel.
“We need the necessary human resources to further develop Sarawak. That is our target,” he said.
For the record, Dr Rundi presented the Outstanding Service Award (APC) to 20 DVS personnel in recognition of their exceptional service, dedication and contributions to the department.
