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Enabling private sector development
Contracts with government
Oversight
Delivery of veterinary
services not specifically under the responsibility of the public
sector should, by default, reside with the private sector.
Nonetheless, the relationship between the two sectors is dynamic
and mutually supportive. Private practitioners may be contracted
to execute tasks under the responsibility of the public sector
and the latter should enable the full development of private
practice.
The private
veterinary sector's raison d'être is to deliver
preventive, curative and promotive services that largely benefit
individual animals and their owners, i.e. to deliver private
goods and services (Leonard, 1987). This means that a private
practice veterinarian should debit (commercialize) livestock
owners' the full cost of examination and diagnosis, medicines,
economically motivated preventive vaccinations, surgery,
husbandry advice, and other services provided, together with his
or her time and transportation costs.
In general the private
sector thrives best in environments without government
interference. However, governments can help by creating and
ascertaining conditions and regulations that support private
initiative and private sector operation. As such it is important
to obtain input from the private sector, whether producers,
processors, consumers or veterinarians in the process of policy
formulation and drafting of quality control regulations.
Subject to
the prevailing code of laws (as implemented by the veterinary
registration body), the private sector should not be obstructed
but encouraged to provide new services as technological change
presents opportunities; as consumer demand evolves; as consumer
willingness to pay for services increases; and as the oversight
authority of government bodies permits. In the abridged words of
Umali and Schwartz (1994), encouraging private sector
participation implies promoting private sector investment. The
prevailing economic, cultural, social and political character of
the economy will determine the optimal programme for the
privatization process. What is clear is that the private sector
will invest only if a favourable economic environment prevails
and barriers to entry are eliminated. This requires macroeconomic
stability, essential infrastructure, changes to the regulatory
framework, and a functioning legal system. One commonly
recognized barrier to entry of private veterinary practitioners
has been (and still is in some countries) the delivery of
recognized private sector responsibilities and functions (see
Division of responsibilities, p. 3) by the official veterinary
service. Unfair competition needs to cease before private
practitioners will risk establishing their practices. These are
the "public goods" that governments have to provide.
Private practitioners, NGOs
and membership organizations, acting with registered
veterinarians and other animal health care providers, could be
readily contracted and paid by government agencies for activities
related to the long-range maintenance of the national herds'
health as well as the public health situation in the country,
i.e. contracted to deliver selected public goods and services.
Public contracts may also be used to expand the extension role
played by private practitioners beyond their normal provision of
husbandry advice. It is well to remember that the public
character of goods or services does not imply that the body
providing them must be public. There are many examples
(brucellosis vaccination and testing, vaccination against
foot-and-mouth disease, tuberculosis testing, etc.) where public
veterinary services employ private agents to deliver selected
functions or tasks.
The private sector delivery
of selected services is subject to compliance monitoring by
national government agencies, ethical standards agreed upon by
the professional veterinary association, disciplinary measures
from the registration body and civil authorities, and competition
in the market place. Consumers may be represented on statutory
registration bodies (see Statutory registration body, p. 12), in
hearings on the introduction of proposed regulations, and in
debates on the use of public funds.