Government is re-engaging, on contract basis, Veterinarians who had retired from active service, Mr. Clement Kofi Humado, Minister of Food and Agriculture, has disclosed.

This, he said, was necessitated by the shortage of Veterinary Doctors in the country.

The current number of Ghanaian Veterinarians in active service is estimated to be less than hundred, a figure that falls short of the about four hundred Veterinarians needed to appropriately handle the promotion of animal health.

“The extremely low numbers of Veterinarians makes it almost impossible to adequately monitor, prevent and control infectious diseases of economic and public health significance”, the Minister lamented.

Mr. Humado was speaking at a sod-cutting ceremony for work to commence on the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) School of Veterinary Medicine Complex at Boadi in Kumasi.

The project, being funded by the Ghana Education Trust (GET) Fund, aims to train Veterinary professionals to boost the health sector.

The Minister said the project was long overdue, in view of the inadequate Veterinarians in the country, assuring that government would step up efforts for the successful completion of the complex.

More than ninety per cent of all Veterinary Doctors currently practicing in the country were trained outside the country, particularly in Eastern Europe.

Mr. Humado said there was the need to improve the situation by training the Doctors locally to enhance public education and control of Zoonotic diseases.

Professor William Otoo Ellis, Vice-Chancellor of the KNUST, lauded the GETFund for responding to an appeal by the University authorities to fund the project.