New international standard to require medical exam every other year

摘要

Just as U.S. mariners and the Coast Guard are finally getting accustomed to the nation's more stringent medical requirements, a new international agreement may place even more strain on die licensees' regimen of physical exams. Soon, mariners will need to see a doctor for checkups every two years and earn a newly created "medical certificate," according to the latest International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) agreement. Most U.S. mariners currently are required to have a physical exam when they renew their merchant mariner's license every five years. The exception is pilots, who need annual physicals.