Materia Medica Malaysiana

Move to train Socso doctors welcomed

The Government’s proposal to train Social Security Organisation (Socso) panel doctors in occupational health is just what the doctor ordered.
The Malaysian Medical Association and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health today described it as a a good move.
They were commenting on Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr Fong Chan Onn’s statement that the Government would make it compulsory for Socso panel doctors to undergo such training.
Fong yesterday also expressed concern that hundreds of occupational diseases were going undetected because of lack of investigation by Socso panel doctors.
MMA president Datuk Dr N. Arumugam pledged his association’s co-operation to make the training a success.
He also said occupational diseases could be prevented if managements paid heed to the work environment.
Agreeing that occupational diseases were under-reported, Dr Arumugam said it was difficult to prove that diseases were caused by the working environment.
Commending the Minister for being proactive, he urged Socso not to delay making payments when workers were confirmed to be suffering from occupational diseases.
Niosh chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said occupational health was of increasing concern because of its impact on the workers’ health and the economic loss to the country.
Lee said Socso statistics showed that 99.7 per cent of compensated cases were related to occupational injuries and only a fraction was associated with occupational diseases.
"These figures show a lack of awareness." he said.