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Seafarer Screening Services Business Viewpoint 19<br />
Screening<br />
for the right health culture<br />
The critical shortage of the global<br />
seafarer population is playing havoc<br />
with the pressures ship owners and<br />
managers are facing dealing with health<br />
issues among what is an ageing seafarer<br />
population. But as Mark Kelly from the New<br />
Jersey-based occupation health specialist<br />
Andersen-Kelly contends, at the end of the<br />
day very few mariners are unfit for duty but<br />
more likely to be deemed as temporarily<br />
unfit. What is needed, he argues, is a fitness<br />
culture in the industry that eschews health<br />
blacklisting in favour of returning seafarers<br />
to fitness. Sean Moloney reports.<br />
“There is a shortage of seafarers and the<br />
amount of money shipping companies spend<br />
in training is considerable. At some time in our<br />
life we all become unhealthy and we are<br />
seeing there are a lot of discussions among<br />
companies we are dealing with about how<br />
can they maintain the health of their mariners<br />
while also staying compliant?” he said.<br />
There has been a push internationally in the<br />
maritime medical community to improve the<br />
medical fitness standards onboard ship,<br />
believes Mark Kelly; a phenomenon seen in<br />
the US. “In the past people have considered<br />
the medical standards issued by the US<br />
regulatory authorities to be not quite as<br />
stringent as in the international community<br />
but this has largely changed. But you are right<br />
we do have an ageing population and with<br />
age comes an increase in certain medical<br />
conditions that could potentially be<br />
disqualifying or compatible with shipboard<br />
employment,” he said.<br />
“At the end of the day very few mariners are<br />
not fit for duty. What you are looking at is<br />
temporarily not fit for duty situations; mariners<br />
who have uncontrolled or undiagnosed<br />
medical conditions and when they present for<br />
a medical examination you may find that<br />
someone has uncontrolled hypertension but<br />
simply taking the medication and getting the<br />
problem under control would get that person<br />
back into fitness.<br />
“Our focus has been to identify those<br />
mariners who fit into that category with<br />
conditions that are potentially disqualifying.<br />
The second push has to help them return to<br />
health. There are only so many mariners out<br />
there and you simply can’t disqualify<br />
everyone. Shipping companies are in the<br />
business of shipping not in the business of<br />
disqualifying people. We try to do a service to<br />
the mariner that if they have a condition that<br />
can be corrected we work with them to<br />
correct the condition and return them to<br />
employment,” he said.<br />
Dr Sneh Khemka, medical director at BUPA<br />
International, admitted that while there can<br />
be a tendency for seafarers’ health to be<br />
ignored, there is a positive trend among<br />
employers to employ the latest technology to<br />
help in the fight for better crew health.<br />
“The ageing profile of today’s seafarers is<br />
something we are picking on quite<br />
significantly as well as the general trends in<br />
“At the end of the day<br />
very few mariners are not<br />
fit for duty. What you are<br />
looking at is temporarily<br />
not fit for duty situations;<br />
mariners who have<br />
uncontrolled or<br />
undiagnosed medical<br />
conditions”<br />
september <strong>2010</strong> ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ maritime medical international
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