Human and Animal Health in Public Service

The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) in Palestine conducted a compliance audit of the work of the General Administration of Veterinary Services and Animal Health at the Ministry of Agriculture for the year 2018. Based on the data, documents and records made available to the SAACB and through the selected sample, the report presents below the texts of the most important observations it reached:

·       There is a shortcoming in the planning process for the work of the General Directorate of Veterinary Services and its subordinate directorates, in addition to the veterinary directorates located in the governorates, which leads to a lack of organization of veterinary work in the Ministry, and this affects the quality of service provided to animal owners.

·       Large quantities of vaccines were destroyed without being utilized, in the amount of 1,009,944 shekels...! and there is weak effectiveness and efficiency of the Ministry of Agriculture’s procedures in implementing the recommendations of the committees formed for destruction operations and the inventory of vaccines... and an absence of the Ministry’s role in oversight of warehouses.... In addition, the Ministry did not destroy veterinary vaccines and medicines in some directorates despite their being unfit for use...!

·       The General Directorate of Veterinary Services and the veterinary directorates in the governorates do not carry out oversight and regulation of livestock and poultry markets, which may lead to the spread of diseases through buying and selling livestock between governorates..!

·       The veterinary directorates in the governorates did not follow up and monitor the technical work inside slaughterhouses and meat factories.... which may affect the safety of the food product...!

·       The veterinary directorates in the governorates do not perform veterinary health inspections of meat in the markets, coordinated between the Slaughterhouses and Factories Section and the Department for the Control of the Safety of Animal Products/Department of Veterinary Public Health... to limit the sale of meat unfit for consumption..!

·       It was not apparent that the Department of Veterinary Public Health performed the tasks entrusted to it regarding follow-up of veterinary health inspections at the start of the food chain for animal products, beginning at the farm, passing through stages of production, transport and processing on scientific bases... and relying on international references to ensure application of health conditions and taking samples for testing.

·       There is no coordination and exchange of information between the Ministry of Agriculture..... and the Ministry of Health.... regarding oversight of food safety, which may lead to weakness in the measures taken by the Ministry of Agriculture in detecting risks resulting from misuse of animal products during processing...!

·       There is a deficiency in the Ministry of Agriculture’s coordination with the Ministry of Health in following up the registration of veterinary treatments, hormones, and the circulation of veterinary medicines...!

·       There is a discrepancy between the book balance and the actual balance for the brucellosis vaccine, where it was found that 2000 doses existed in the central warehouse expiring in 11-2020, without justification from the central warehouse manager for that excess..!

·       The effectiveness of procedures taken by the General Directorate of Veterinary Services in following up veterinary institutions, starting with licensing, is weak, resulting in the existence of veterinary institutions operating without a license...!, and some veterinary pharmacies and medical warehouses do not comply with the laws, regulations, procedures and instructions governing storage, preservation and sales mechanisms..!

·       The effectiveness of the Ministry’s procedures in implementing the recommendations of committees formed regarding animal identification/tagging is weak..!. The Ministry did not utilize the allocated financial appropriations for the identification process, and there is no technical support for identification in the directorates, which leads to difficulty in counting and tracing livestock.

·       There is weakness in veterinary quarantine operations for animals and their products... In addition, the Veterinary Quarantine Department does not register veterinary preparations and vaccines... and does not participate in the registration of veterinary treatments and hormones with the competent body in the Ministry of Health.!

·       The Epidemiology Department does not comply with studying animals’ immunity to diseases...!, and it does not use modern systems in disease surveillance and tracking operations...!

·       The Epidemiology Department did not perform the tasks of the Continuing Education Section and did not follow up with the directorates regarding veterinary education, which may lead to failure to develop the capacities of the staff working in veterinary services and failure to develop the skills necessary to preserve animal and human health from diseases..!

·       The Ministry of Agriculture did not issue a specific slaughterhouse regulation, as stipulated in Article 70 of the Agriculture Law No. 2 of 2003, nor did the General Directorate of Veterinary Services prepare and adopt construction specifications and veterinary health conditions for licensing livestock and poultry slaughterhouses and meat factories..!. and work to implement these specifications and conditions..

·       There are no plans or actual procedures for coordination between the Department of Veterinary Public Health, field services and epidemiology regarding veterinary extension operations related to zoonotic diseases, and on how to prevent them.. to limit infection and spread..!

·       The veterinary directorates did not supervise veterinary vaccinations for poultry.. which may cause farmers to suffer heavy losses..!

·       Nablus Veterinary Directorate did not monitor the technical work inside parent breeder poultry farms, and the Ramallah Veterinary Directorate did not monitor and follow up veterinary technical work, monitor the sanitary conditions of incubators, nor take periodic samples from incubators and poultry farms and send them to laboratories for testing..!

·       It was not evident that the Veterinary Laboratories Department conducted or contributed to studies and research in the fields of genetic diagnosis of pathogenic agents..!

·       Laboratory testing devices are not maintained sufficiently to ensure their continued operation and the accuracy of their results. There is no responsible party in the laboratories for monitoring and maintenance of laboratory devices, and there is no contracting with specialized bodies to maintain those devices..!

·       The veterinary directorates in the agricultural directorates did not collect fees for some laboratory tests.

-       The Ministry of Agriculture’s response to the report was that it stated it will take into account a number....of the recommendations contained in the Bureau’s report...!

-       Date: 27-9-2021