Employers are concerned about the rising cost of medical examinations of workers

Representatives of business and government agencies at the site of "Atameken" discussed mandatory pre-shift and after shift examination of medical personnel

Deputy chairman of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan "Atameken" Yuliya Yakupbaeva held a workshop on issue of conduction of mandatory medical examination.

Director of the Department of Social Work of JSC "National Company" Kazakhstan Temir Zholy" Korlan Medikhanova shared in her speech the difficulties of the pre-shift medical examinations, pre-trip and aftertrip medical examination.

She noted the lack of regulations governing the conduct of pre-shift medical examination. Secondly, according to Medikhanova, there is a list of professions today that must undergo mandatory medical examinations, as well as the rules of the pre-shift inspection.

"We have repeatedly appealed for a year to the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Consumer Protection Committee of the Ministry of National Economy. However, they redirected the question to each other. We also appealed to the Committee of the Ministry of Transport Investment and Development, "Samruk-Kazyna", the Ministry of Justice, but they re-sent the issue to the competent authorities or the developers of normative legal acts", - she said.

She also highlighted the changes made to the Labour Code, which, in addition to the pre-shift medical examination, impose the duty on the employer to conduct after shift medical examination. According to her, annually KTZ spends on pre-shift medical examination more than 1.5 billion tenge. Organization of after shift examination will require similar costs. Such costs may affect the rates. "Given that most businesses purchase the services of medical examination, imagine how much unnecessary expenditures have employers", - said Medikhanova.

In addition, a representative of KTZH noted that it is necessary to set the frequency of mandatory medical examinations, depending on the age of the worker.

Y. Yakupbaeva, in turn, added that a similar problem is raised not only by KTZH. "The representatives of NC "KazMunayGas", "KazMunayGaz Onimderi", "Air Astana", "KazTransGas Aymak", "Amangeldі Gas", "Eurasia Group", "NMSC "Kazmortransflot", Corporation "Kazakhmys", "OzenMunayGaz" "Karazhanbasmunay" and others are present here. The problem is acute and old. It needs to be solved. We have a correspondence with government agencies, in which  they play fool. And after today's meeting, we plan to apply to the Government. Because the issue is very topical for employers, and it can’t be solved ", - she said.

Chairman of the Board of LLP "Medicare" Gulzhan Sadyrbaeva, as a representative of the medical organization, made suggestions on improving certain regulations. "The law of RK "On Road Traffic" in the competence of the authorized body in the field of health stipulates that it approves the rules of mandatory pre-trip and after trip medical examinations for drivers of vehicles. Rules have not yet been developed, and this leads to misinterpretation or non-compliance with the articles of this law. We propose to the Ministry of Health and Social Development to develop them and during development to invite representatives of health care companies with experience in providing this type of service", - she said.

Sadyrbaeva also proposed to introduce changes to some of the orders of the Ministry of Health and Social Development, which contain absurd rules. For example, the compulsory requirement for protective clothing of health workers is a fabric which has antibacterial and antiseptic impregnation. No one produces and delivers such fabrics to Kazakhstan today. Furthermore, the document prescribes mandatory check of uranium concentration in urine. This kind of research is carried out only at the Center for Nuclear Physics and is worth 5 thousand tenge. "What is a trip? For example, an ambulance driver drove to the emergency place and does he have to undergo examination after each call? "- She asked.

A representative of the Committee on Consumer Protection of the Ministry of National Economy of Kazakhstan Toktasyn Erubaev noted that the government agency is willing to work with NCE "Atameken" and the Ministry of Health to discuss the situation and to find a solution.

Head of Department of outpatient care of the Department of organization of medical care of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Kazakhstan Akmaral Seralieva said that now the Ministry is working on the development of the Decree on the list of professions, which require pre-shift and after shift medical examination and an order for pre-trip and after-trip medical examinations in accordance with the Law of RK "On the Road movement". On behalf of the Ministry of Health, she expressed readiness to meet once again with government agencies and the business community to discuss these draft RLAs.

The representative of "Kazakhmys Corporation" Banu Tyulyubekova drew the attention to the fact that there are harmful and dangerous working conditions in the factories. "Today, we have companies, at which up to 800 people work simultaneously at each shift. Just imagine if all of them will undergo after shift examination. We have our own medical service, which has 172 people. Introduction of after shift examination will require additional medical personnel in the amount of  40 people. On average 5 minutes are spent for examination of one employee. During the day, the cost of working time is more than 1000 hours ", - she said.

Senior vice-president of "Air Astana" Erbol Ospanov also expressed his opinion on the situation. He noted that, in addition to monetary expenses, multiple medical examinations distract pilots from work, they do not exist in international practice. "I have an American, Canadian and Kazakh pilot license. And only we have all these rules that complicate it even more", - he said.

In turn, the representative of "Air Astana" S. Parfenova raised the problem of the periodicity of the compulsory medical examinations of certain categories of employees and the volume of services within the health checks. For example, flight attendants undergo medical examinations 1 time per quarter, including gynecological examination. She noted that the gynecologist examination of flight attendants on a quarterly basis is not necessary, it can be carried out 2 times a year. In connection with the introduction of compulsory medical insurance, it is necessary to review the frequency and the amount of the periodic medical examinations.

"We can go to the point of absurdity - to examine teachers, doctors themselves, they also work with people. Before the introduction of these costly standards, we should always look at international practice. We suffer from the fact that we copy international practice partially, as a result we get some patchwork blanket, which is a burden. Instead of introducing such concepts as pre-shift, after shift, pre- and after trip examinations, in South Korea the compulsory social health insurance requires an annual survey of employee for extension of an employment contract. It is necessary to consider comprehensively the international practice for the implementation of the ideas of industrial medicine", - said Yuliya Yakupbaeva.

She thanked all the participants for the constructive dialogue. "Conceptually, you need to start with a collision in the Labour Code and the Code of RK "On people's health and the health care system". I am here to ask the help of the Ministry of Justice. We have a lot of work, so I ask everyone to take part in the working groups", - concluded the deputy chairman of the Chamber.