Evaluation of Occupational Diseases in Turkey in 2011-2015

Abstract

Introduction
Our study was carried out with the aim of evaluating the patients diagnosed with occupational diseases in 2011-2015 in Turkey.

Method
Our research is a descriptive study. The data are the records of the Occupational Diseases cases registered in the Social Security Institution(SGK) of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in 2011-2015 and the records of the Turkish Statistical Institute(TUIK) in 2013. Since the data were obtained from the public internet sites, ethical requirements were not needed.

Results
According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, the labor force population in Turkey in 2015 is 29,565,000. In 2015 there are approximately 21 million active insured worker, about 14 million of them have 4/1-a insurance and only this group's data are recorded for occupational disease and occupational disease rate is 0.003%. None of the occupational diseases in 2013-2015 were resulted in death. The most common sector for occupational diseases is the removal of coal and lignite for men and manufacture of motor vehicles for women. The most common occupational disease was arsenic and its compounds related diseases and silicosis in 2011 and 2015 respectively. The TUIK study in 2013 shows that 2.1% of the participants had a discomfort in the last 12 months due to their jobs.

Conclusion
Out of all insured workers only 4/1-a insured's data are in SGK database. Data of the occupational diseases are given only because it brings legal consequences such as criminal responsibility, compensation and incapacity benefit. Occupational disease cases in Turkey are far below expectations. In order for the diagnosis of occupational diseases to be at an expected level, it would be appropriate to arrange the criteria and diagnosis codes to be included in the Ministry of Health basic data.

 

 

Keywords: occupational disease, occupational health and safety, records

Keywords

• Evaluation of Occupational Diseases in Turkey in 2011-2015

Kaynakça

1. Elif Durmaz, Ferdi Tanır, Muhsin Akbaba Cukurova University Faculty of Medicine Department of Public Health