WITHOUT the WHITECOAT
Annual Medical Examination... not for a fee
For establishments and companies who have observed the "standards" as well as the rules and regulations of the Department of Labor and Employment-Occupational Safety and Health Center and of the Bureau of Working Conditions, filling up the AME forms will be a breeze. These true-blue companies implement the correctly practiced and prescribed occupational safety and health programs in their workplace. They have logged all the illnesses, diseases and injuries of the company for the entire year.
It has always been the belief of "some" establishments and companies that when the fiscal year is over and the requirements of DOLE (as in the filling up of the AME) are involved, they can just go to "some" ordinary physician to accomplish the annual report. If we look closely at the form, it says "occupational health physician or practitioner" and the dentist is designated as an occupational health dentist. With pure ethical and with-conscience "delicadeza", the doctors and physicians that never underwent any basic training course in occupational safety and health SHOULD NOT sign and accomplish the annual report.
The companies or establishment should also be taught that it is not just a one-time fee. The physicians who signed that AMR should institute programs of safety and health in the workplace primarily insuring the workers' health. The physician should be able to do plant rounds or walk-thru surveys of the establishments aside from the consultations that he does.
The physician hired by the company should not just sit down in the company office and do consultations. He should prepare programs for the employees' welfare. At the same time, he must do walk-thru surveys of the company and should address issues on hazards and accidents. In addition to that, the physician must analyze and manage these hazards. Remember that we are paid by the companies to take care of their employees. We are there to prevent diseases and illnesses as well as to address sickness and absenteeism in the workplace, not to have our behind glued to the office chair.
It seems some workers are afraid to report to DOLE that their companies don't have some existing programs for safety and health. They fear that by doing so they might loose their jobs. Others lack the knowledge about the existing Labor Code of the Philippines (Presidential Decree # 442). PD 442 governs all workers in all occupations. The Labor Code of the Philippines should be the rule and the guide for companies and establishments to provide the necessary support when it comes to safety and health of its workers and employees. The employees and workers should keep in mind that the law will protect them thru DOLE, DOH and DILG. The fact that makes the occupational medicine as the only specialty that deals with three government agencies.
It is by properly educating our employees on the issues of workers' health and safety, their rights, and what are they are entitled to that will make a big difference on employees' health. We have to educate all workers that if they have problems and conditions that deals with the heart as an organ then they should seek for a cardiologist. If they have a respiratory problems, provided that the sole cause is centered in the lungs, then they must consult a pulmonologist. If their concerns are related to medical issues covering the endocrine and diabetes mellitus, then the use of insulin is directed to a diabetologist or endocrinologist. But when issues that involve workers' health and safety arises, then the task and the responsibility are obligated and delegated by "LAW" through an occupational health physician or practitioner and specialist.
The cardiologist, pediatrician, pulmonologist, endocrinologist, internist or the general practitioner can never take the jobs or the obligations of the trained and certified occupational health physician or practitioner. The rationale is this: They never had a DOLE-sanctioned training in basic occupational safety and health.
As a summary, the companies and establishments should be educated further on this issue. It should be stressed out that the company physician or the retainer is not an "annual report for a fee" but a doctor who will render a satisfactory service to the company and the establishment that he is serving by promoting the employees' occupational safety and health. When it comes to the company employees' welfare and health, the company should hire and employ an accredited and a qualified physician in occupational safety and health. There is only one specialty that shares its knowledge with the occupational health practitioner... the Filipino Family Physician. (AFP, February 15, 1999)