The creation of a state round-the-clock emergency veterinary care system in Latvia is financially unfeasible, acknowledged the Ministry of Agriculture (MZ), commenting to the LETA agency on the public initiative on the "Manabalss.lv" platform calling for the establishment of a state-funded round-the-clock emergency veterinary care system in Latvia.
The Ministry of Agriculture noted that in the current fiscal conditions, when all government institutions need to consolidate budget expenditures, there are no free budget resources. The introduction of a new permanent state function would mean either a reduction in funding in other areas or the search for additional revenues. Thus, the creation of such a system is financially unfeasible.
The Ministry also explained that the care of an animal, including its feeding, maintenance, treatment, including the provision of emergency veterinary assistance, is the responsibility of the animal's owner along with all associated costs.
The ministry pointed out that creating a state round-the-clock emergency veterinary care system requires significant financial resources — to ensure staff availability around the clock, to create and adapt infrastructure, to organize transportation, to ensure the availability of veterinary medicines, and for administrative management. Funding for such purposes is not provided in the state budget.
As an alternative solution, the ministry sees the stimulation of animal health insurance, which is widely used in several countries, including Scandinavia, to cover the costs of animal treatment, as well as strengthening cooperation between municipalities and veterinary service providers to improve the accessibility of emergency veterinary care.
The ministry emphasized that maintaining veterinary practice or providing veterinary services is not defined as an autonomous function of local government, nor is it defined as a delegated state function, therefore local government is not entitled to independently create a round-the-clock veterinary clinic as a public service for all, provide "free emergency veterinary assistance" as a universal service, and establish this as a mandatory function without delegation from the state.
The Ministry noted that the current legal regulation does not impose an obligation on local government to provide round-the-clock veterinary care, but it does not prohibit supporting the availability of such care in the region if the support is aimed at ensuring the possibility of providing the service, rather than providing veterinary assistance as a public service. This means that local government cannot pay for the service for the patient, but can, for example, compensate the veterinarian for their readiness to provide emergency assistance and ensure the availability of the service around the clock in a specific region. The resident pays for the received assistance independently at market price, while the maintenance of the service in the region is covered by the local government.
As reported, a petition was launched on the public initiatives portal "Manabalss.lv" in early February calling for the establishment of a state-funded round-the-clock emergency veterinary care system in Latvia.
Initiative representative Diana Mosure explains that currently there is no organized and state-funded system in Latvia that provides round-the-clock emergency veterinary care. At night, on weekends, and on holidays, timely veterinary assistance is unavailable to pet owners in many regions of Latvia.
