With the grand duchy facing an in the near future, the need for more occupational physicians is one that the Luxembourg Association for Occupational Health (Alsat) is urgently flagging now. The association says that 50 occupational physicians will be required in the next five years merely to provide what it calls the minimum. Today there are 25 in Luxembourg.

That would allow for “barely one occupational physician for every 5,000 employees, when the European standard is one occupational physician for every 3,500 employees,” Alsat stated in a press release

The consequence of a lack of occupational physicians are obvious. It leads to delays in making appointments, which can restrict the possibility of access to measures for professional reclassification or reorientation on medical grounds.

In addition to meeting the needs of employees, from recruitment to day-to-day work, in particular by preventing stress-related risks, occupational physicians also play a significant global advisory role, ranging from in the design of workstations to health education.

Alsat has now developed a project for a specialisation course in occupational medicine. It hopes to see this offered at the University of Luxembourg and to also enable candidates to do internships directly in national occupational health services. The association is now appealing to political decision-makers to “get their support”.