Occupational Medicine

The workplace is not always a safe place to work in. Just like at home, there are always structures, elements that in 1 way or another may become a hazard and may cause injury or disease to an employee - whether regular or just contractual and even to the employer. The impact will be decrease in production and/or bad image for the company. 

For example, that Eton Construction Incident which happened last January in Makati City. 10 employees dead, 1 gravely injured. They were just going to have their lunch. Unfortunately, they rode a gondola which can only carry 2-3 people. Their weight was more than what the gondola could bear. The result - fatality. Is it a case of ignorance from the management, an unsafe behavior by the employees, or both?

Occupational Medicine is a gradually booming specialty, as recognized by the Philippine Medical Association. Its specialists are likewise recognized by the PhilHealth. Some companies are gradually recognizing (& hiring) physicians which have taken the basic course (either in Occupational Medicine given by the Philippine College of Occupational Medicine, or Occupational Safety & Health by the UP College of Public Health). The training courses are all recognized and accredited by the Department of Labor and Employment Bureau of Working Conditions (DOLE-BWC). Many specialists are also gaining interest in this specialty - thus, this is not limited to general practitioners, or family physicians only.

The basic course is an 8-day course, running from thursdays to sundays for 2 consecutive weeks, starting from 8am to 5pm. You receive a handbook, and served free meals (2 snacks, 1 lunch). The venues are either in Greenhills, San Juan, or in North Avenue, QC. Attendance is very strict (checked twice a day), absences are prohibited, tardiness is a no-no. Otherwise, you get a sanction. As the course director has mentioned several times, the most important days are the first two days, and the last two days. A plant visit is conducted on the second to the last day, followed by workshops and the graduation. Examinations are conducted before and at the end of the workshop to evaluate our knowledge.

It was like going back to medical school - instead of classmates coming from different pre-med degrees and schools, I met colleagues from different specialties (general practitioners, dentists, pediatricians, internists, etc.), different locations (mostly from NCR, some came from provinces as far as Batac, Ilocos Norte, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu), different fields of work (cement factories, call centers, private clinics, etc. and yes, even those unemployed like me). If you're lucky, you get to see your batchmates (from highschool, or pre-med, or medical school) who have also enrolled in the course at the same time with you. With time, we got to know each other, be more comfortable and be friends. There was no sense of competition, prejudice.

I was included in the first batch of the workshop for the year 2011. I was part of 54 participants. As the course director said, it was the largest group. Not to forget, there were 18 applicants who were placed on the "waiting list" & was unable to join. Our resource speakers were not bored with us, said that our group was very participative in the discussions. We were able to finish the workshop panels on time, and 1 of us got the highest score in the post-workshop exam for the past 2 years.

The discussions were extensive - ranging from medical topics like Occupational Cancers and Skin Diseases, Musculoskeletal disorders just to name a few, some engineering topics like Plant Sanitation, and administrative issues like Physician as an Executive, Employees Compensation Commission (ECC), policy making, etc. On the bad side, I've observed that the discussions were congested to just 1-2 hours. Because of interests, experiences of my colleagues, some of the open forums were cut or limited. Second, the fact of taking-in too much knowledge in so little time is too much to bear. 

The basic course is just an overview of what's instore for the Advanced Course before taking the Diplomate/Specialty examinations. Sounds exciting & promising, isn't it?

Hopefully, this will be accepted and recognized not only by physicians, companies but also by the government.

All 54 participants of the first class of Basic Course in Occupational Medicine for the year 2011