Assessing the effectiveness of periodic medical examinations of workers working in harmful and hazardous working conditions in the Republic of Bashkortostan during the pandemic COVID-19

Abstract

In recent years, throughout the Russian Federation, in the conditions of the Covid -19 pandemic, there has been a sharp deterioration in the demographic situation, the mortality rate of the able-bodied population is increasing, the growth of which is undoubtedly influenced by harmful/dangerous working conditions. In the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, conducting and organizing periodic medical examinations proved to be a very difficult task, as a result of which their quality continued to deteriorate. The final acts and annual reports on the results of medical examinations in the Republic of Bashkortostan for 2019–2020 were used to perform the work. At the enterprises of the republic, out of 1 million 190 thousand employees, 32.4 % work in conditions that do not meet hygienic standards. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the percentage of coverage of employees with periodic medical examinations in 2020 decreased sharply compared to 2019 and ranged from 70.0 to 95.6 % in different regions; the detection of persons with signs of occupational disease also decreased by 20 %, which led to a sharp decrease in occupational morbidity rates. Despite the difficult epidemiological situation, conducting medical examinations should remain the most important task of general practitioners and occupational pathologists. A decrease in the quality of inspections directly negatively affects the health of workers and causes significant economic damage.