new diving regulations in Red Sea

[vjongene]

As far as I know, it doesn't have to be a dive specialist. It can be any old family-practice general practitioner.

And doesn't have to be a full-blown medical exam report, either. I had basically a one-line memo last year from my doctor, saying that I didn't have any conditions that would be counter-indicative to scuba diving. It was accepted at the Red Sea without a second glance.

I have attached (PDF) the medical certificate form of the Swiss Society for Hyperbaric Medicine. If you can get your family doctor to sign this you should be OK pretty much anywhere in the world, including France, where this has been obligatory for many years.

 

[miketsp]

I have attached (PDF) the medical certificate form of the Swiss Society for Hyperbaric Medicine. If you can get your family doctor to sign this you should be OK pretty much anywhere in the world, including France, where this has been obligatory for many years.

I doubt very much if any doctor I know would sign under

This person has been examined according to the fitness-to-dive-guidelines of the Swiss Underwater and Hyperbaric Medical Society for recreational
SCUBA diving. No medical condition considered to represent an absolute contraindication to diving has been found.

without also showing him a copy of the guidelines.
Do you have these available?

 

[miketsp]

This is a set of guidelines which I used once to get a general MD to sign me off after I did my annual checkup.

I don't remember exactly where I downloaded them but I do know they are on many sites based on recommendations of the UHMS.

 

[vjongene]

I doubt very much if any doctor I know would sign under

This person has been examined according to the fitness-to-dive-guidelines of the Swiss Underwater and Hyperbaric Medical Society for recreational
SCUBA diving. No medical condition considered to represent an absolute contraindication to diving has been found.

without also showing him a copy of the guidelines.
Do you have these available?

Yes, attached. Unfortunately, there is no English version, only German, French and Italian. I have attached the French version.

The first two (ex1af and ex1bf) are for the initial exam, the third (ex2f) for the yearly control.

 

[miketsp]

Yes, attached. Unfortunately, there is no English version, only German, French and Italian. I have attached the French version.

The first two (ex1af and ex1bf) are for the initial exam, the third (ex2f) for the yearly control.

What you attached are not guidelines, they are merely forms to register condition. The pdf I posted contains guidelines which stipulate the degree of risk associated with each condition. They allow a non-diving doctor to take a decision. Even then the doctor may refuse.
The standard UHMS course for doctors, to allow them to qualify divers, apparently lasts for 4 days.

 

[SubMariner]

I can see them losing a lot of customers if they insist on making the Medical Exam mandatory. Most people simply don't have the time or inclination to go a physician and pay extra money to have this done.

Why can't they just use the usual Medical Questionaire that most dive agencies require? That's a CYA document if I ever saw one.

 

[miketsp]

I can see them losing a lot of customers if they insist on making the Medical Exam mandatory. Most people simply don't have the time or inclination to go a physician and pay extra money to have this done.

Why can't they just use the usual Medical Questionaire that most dive agencies require? That's a CYA document if I ever saw one.

One operator I know really tightened up on this after one student presented a doctors declaration and then had a heart attack and died diring the 1st OW dive. At the inquest it turned out that the student hadn't even been examined. Now he only accepts candidates that accept doing their medical with the doctor indicated by the school.
He is aware that he loses some students like this. OTOH he believes that for many other students, the school presents a more professional image by operating to strict rules.
Overall, I don't think he loses anything.

 

[Marek K]

miketsp--

Thanks for the form you posted. Our 12-year-old daughter wants to start diving very much. She has a history of mild asthma, and these guidelines seem to cover that very well... much better than what I, as a lay person, have seen elsewhere. We're going to get her a current pulmonary function test, but I think this form may be very useful for the doctor to make an informed decision regarding scuba.

mania--

If I'm reading what you posted correctly, the new Red Sea rules only require a "self-declaration" signed by the diver, for both marine parks and non-marine parks; not a medical statement signed by a physician. Though I suspect a lot of dive operations go beyond that, in requiring some kind of physician's statement.

The (German) dive operation I went to last summer, Easy Divers in Makadi Bay, required a "Tauchattest (nicht älter als 1 Jahr)." I understood that to mean a medical certificate signed by a doctor.

The embassy doctor here, a general practitioner, just wrote a "to whom it may concern" memo saying that "This man has been a patient at our clinic for 2 years, is healthy and has no medical contraindications to scuba diving." The dive operation accepted it without any problem.

Interesting that insurance is required now. And for each diver to have a surface marker bouy, and one torch/flashlight per buddy pair.

Also interesting that a guide appears required on all boats. Extra Divers were requiring a guide if a diver had less than, I think, 20 logged dives (like my newly-certified son); they also charged 5 Euros for the guide. I wonder how the new rules will affect that.

--Marek

 

[mania]

Marek
This equipment is obligatory for liveboards divers (in Egypt they call it safari boats). It's not obligatory for daily divers
Mania

 

[Marek K]

Marek
This equipment is obligatory for liveboards divers (in Egypt they call it safari boats). It's not obligatory for daily divers
Mania

*grumble grumble*

We obviously need a translation link here. Safari - liveaboard. Torch - flashlight. DIN - INT. Harbour - harbor.