Director of Veterinary Directorate deposed due to the “African” cattle virus

Due to omissions made by the Veterinary Directorate, which failed to react in due time in preventing the spreading of the lumpy skin disease, the Government of Serbia deposed from duty Miodrag Petrovic, director of the VT on Friday, June 24. It might be said that the decision was made under pressure from the public, since there were opinions that the damage to local cattle farming could have been smaller if the competent authorities had been better organized.

As Dragan Glamocic, adviser to the prime minister, said for Politika, there were plenty of omissions in the work of the Veterinary Directorate at the Ministry of Agriculture. One particular fault was found with their failure to start the procedure of procuring vaccines against nodular dermatitis in due time and inform the public sooner of the possibility that the disease might spread to Serbia. The first man of the Veterinary Directorate, however, refused to comment on the Government's actions.

- We weren't able to prevent the appearance of the virus, that much is true. Farmers and the public needed to be informed on time, disinfection needed to be carried out, instead of hiding the problem. We knew back in 2015 that we were in risk, since the disease had appeared in neighboring countries, first in Bulgaria, then in Macedonia. We could have started the procedure of procuring vaccines sooner, instead of having waited for so long – said Glamocic and added that the Government had formed the Operational Team in the meantime and that the experts were trying to make up for the omissions made.

- In the next few months, we are facing the struggle against the disease. Those who didn't react adequately and inform the public on time will have to answer for the omissions they've made.

Vlada Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo poljoprivrede, šumarstva i vodoprivrede Republike Srbije

Uprava za veterinu Republika Srbija

Government of Serbia

Ministry of Agriculture

Veterinary Directorate

Miodrag Petrovic

lumpy skin disease

nodular dermatitis

Dragan Glamocic

vaccine against cattle disease