KARACHI, Dec 8: The health workforce across the globe constitutes among the most vulnerable groups to occupational hazards, ranging from infections to physical harm, psycho-social factors and exposure to biological or chemical risks.

Dr Amanullah, National Secretary of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) for Pakistan in his presentation at a seminar organised by the Dow University of Health Sciences said the healthcare workforce was 35 million worldwide, representing 12 per cent of the working population.

“The risk of acute conditions faced by hospital workers was 1.5 times greater than for other workers,” he said.

The speaker mentioned that occupational health meant protection and promotion of workers’ health by preventing and controlling occupational diseases and accidents thought elimination of occupational factors and conditions, hazardous to health and safety at work.

“Yet we witness that the risk of transmission of infection from an infected patient to a healthcare worker after needle stick injury is 3-10 per cent for Hepatitis B, one to three per cent for Hepatitis C, and 0.3 per cent for HIV,” he said, adding that more than two million healthcare workers suffered needle to stick injuries per year.

Dr Amanullah reiterated that each and every worker had the right to know the potential hazards and risks in their workplace and work, and they should, through appropriate mechanisms, participate in planning and decision making concerning their own work, safety and health.

The WHO declaration on occupational health for all observed that the fundamental right of each worker was the highest attainable standard of health. To achieve the objective, access to occupational health services should be ensured to all workers irrespective of age, sex, nationality, occupation, type of work, size or location of workplace.

How these basic requirements when overlooked in the health sector result in scenarios similar to that in the SARS outbreak in 1993, where one-fifth of all 916 deaths were those of health workers handling the affected in 29 countries, the speaker commented.

Referring to chronic conditions among health care workers, he said hypertension, anaemia, diseases of urinary system, eczema, dermatitis and urticaria, displacement of inter-vertebral disc are quite commonly witnessed among those associated with the profession.

The speaker also explicitly discussed health hazards commonly witnessed.

These could be physical like exposure to ionizing radiation, exposure to noise, or/and heat pollution. While exposure to radioactive materials, chemical disinfectants, anaesthetic agents were said to be some of the chemical threats.

Dr Abdul Rauf Memon of the Dow University of Health Sciences in his presentation on Water Borne Diseases, in particular context to post-natural disaster scenarios, said that rise in the incidence of waterborne infections like shigellosis, cholera, Hepatitis A, Amoebiasis, typhoid fever, malaria is generally expected following earthquakes.—APP