Israel

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Israeli Veterinary Services and Animal Health, 2000

The Israeli State Veterinary Services (VS) are appended to the Ministry of Agriculture. Their activities and authority derive from the laws of the State. The six major laws pertaining to these are:

The Animal Diseases Ordinance;
The Rabies Ordinance;
The Animals and Animal Products (Control of Export) Law;
The Veterinarians Law;
Cruelty to Animals (Animal Protection) Law;
Business licensing law.

The main activities of the VS, as prescribed by these laws, are:

prevention, control and eradication of animal diseases and zoonoses;
diagnosis of those diseases, their surveillance and monitoring;
control of import and export of animals and animal products;
testing and licensing of veterinary vaccines, insecticides and disinfectants, and co-licensing, together with the Ministry of Health, of veterinary pharmaceuticals;
supervision and instruction of public bodies that deal with animal health or animal product hygiene, such as the veterinary departments of the local authorities and the Poultry & Egg Board, and supervision of business licensing;
central supervision of meat inspection and of veterinary control upon slaughter for the local market and for export, and of processing of animal products for food intended for export;
research and development in veterinary medicine;
national surveillance of hazardous residues in foods of animal origin;
ensuring animal welfare;
central supervision of the rabies control programs in pets, farm animals and wildlife;
licensing of veterinarians;
representation of Israel in international veterinary organisations;
instructing and informing the public and members of the veterinary profession on veterinary matters;
execution of the veterinary items included in the Autonomy and Peace Agreements.

The various units of the VS are located throughout the country. The administration is located at Beit Dagan, along with the largest of the VS's units - the Kimron Veterinary Institute (KVI). The Field Veterinary Services operate through nine Veterinary Offices. Other central units are the Control of Import/Export and its quarantine stations, the Poultry Health Service comprising seven regional diagnostic laboratories, and the Control of Animal Products .

Staff

The VS presently employs 281 people, including those at the KVI. This number is composed of 100 veterinarians, 21 scientists who are not veterinarians, 54 microbiologists, 52 administrative employees, 34 technicians and inspectors, 5 engineers, one electrician and 14 manual laborers.

Of the above, 193 are permanent employees, 88 are temporarily employed in various research programs, of which 28 are new immigrants employed via the Center for Absorption and Promotion of Employment. In addition, 14 veterinarians, most of them new immigrants, not included in the said 281 employees, have been employed for the country-wide Brucella melitensis control program which is operational since 1995.

Budget

The VS budget for 2000 is NIS 63.9 million, (=17.7 million U.S. Dollars) of which NIS 34.5 million depend on income. Funding of research projects by external sources amounts to an additional NIS 4.3 million.

Affiliations with other bodies

The VS may delegate authority and responsibilities to veterinarians not directly in its employ, such as the veterinarians of the local authorities and of the Poultry & Egg Board. These bodies employ approximately 300 people: 170 veterinarians, 25 microbiologists, 80 veterinary inspectors - mainly in the areas of rabies control and poultry slaughter, and others.

Close relations exist between the VS and "Hachaklait" (a cooperative society for clinical veterinary service to farm animals), farmers associations, the production boards (Milk and Poultry), the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, various government offices - particularly the ministries of Health, the Interior, Industry and Trade, the Treasury and the Ministry of the Environment, the Local Government Center, the Nature Reserves Authority, industrialists organisations dealing with animal products, consumer associations, the Insurance Fund for Natural Risks in Agriculture, Ltd (a government-run company), the animal welfare societies, the Institute of Standards, international organisations - OIE, FAO and WHO, the European Union, the USDA, USAID, and others.

There are approximately 1150 licensed veterinarians in Israel. Approximately 400 private practitioners have been accredited to vaccinate dogs against rabies, reporting to the municipal veterinarians.