New medical equipment

New requirements for medical equipment on board of merchant ships flying the German flag have come into force.

The new "State of medical knowledge" includes, besides an equipment list, practical information on the storage of drugs and medical products on board. The changes in comparison to the previous state of medical knowledge are given in an information leaflet (in German only).

Shipowners only have to implement the changes of the medical equipment by the next annual inspection.

For our and your benefit, please note: During inspections on board, it has been noticed that a lot of the time only the last attestation by the pharmacy was kept on board. However, sec. 109 para. 3 of the Maritime Labour Act requires the last 5 attestations be kept on board. Please make sure that the last five attestation are available on board in the future.

More information on this topic can be found in our section on "Maritime Medicine".