Why is it so expensive to go to the vet? “Increase in costs, inflation and pressure from chain stores”

Prices of veterinary services are increasing mainly due to increased labor costs, expensive equipment, lack of doctors in rural areas and pressure from chain clinics – Marek Mastalerek, president of the National Veterinary Medical Council, told PAP. He added that the average cost of an office hour is approximately PLN 220.

The prices of veterinary services in Poland are still rising, and the differences between offices reach up to several hundred percent. According to the president of the National Medical and Veterinary Council, Marek Mastalerek, this is not only due to price freedom, but also to the real costs of running a business and changes in the market that have significantly burdened doctors in recent years.

As Mastalerek emphasized, the local government has no legal ability to set price lists.

– The price for the service is a contractual price, and we cannot impose rates. We once tried to sort out this issue, but it ended with penalties from the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, he recalled.

As he pointed out, in 2014, the Council commissioned the Warsaw School of Economics to calculate the average operating costs of a veterinary office. At that time, a doctor's working hour, including all business expenses, amounted to approximately PLN 159.

– After taking into account inflation and increased costs, today it is about PLN 220 – and this is the cost of operating the office, not the doctor's earnings – he noted.

He explained that the final price is influenced by, among others: rents, taxes, equipment operation, investments in modern diagnostics, as well as staff salaries and training. City clinics, especially those in the centers of large cities, face the highest fixed costs, which is why their prices are higher. At the same time, veterinary chain stores are increasingly influencing the market.

– These are entities with different business models. Their entry causes price pressure and changes the market structure, which affects both the costs of services and working conditions, Mastalerek noted.

The prices of veterinary medicines are also risingwhich – as he explained – results from the identical registration process as in the case of human drugs, with much smaller target groups.

– A human medicinal product may have millions of patients. The one for animals – from several thousand to several hundred thousand, depending on the species. Test costs are distributed differently, which is why veterinary drugs tend to be more expensive, he said.

In accordance with EU law a doctor may use a human drug only when no veterinary equivalent is available.

The increase in service prices is also fueled by staff shortages, especially in rural areas. Most doctors today work in cities and treat companion animals, while demand on farms is growing. Fieldwork costs are higher and profitability is lower, discouraging young doctors. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has hit small, one-person field practices hard.

– When a rural doctor went into isolation, the office simply stopped working. Financial losses were large and farms lost access to services. Many older doctors then decided to close their businesses because there were no successors, he said.

He added that the current market structure, economic pressure and the lack of systemic solutions, such as universal animal insurance that existed in the past, will cause the prices of veterinary services to increase.

Mira Suchodolska (PAP)

The entire interview will be broadcast at 7/05.

mir/ joz/