The UK Protection & Indemnity (P&I) Club says the costs of enhanced medical examinations for Filipino crew members would be more than outweighed by a fall in health-related claims.
This was the club's finding after the first year of a pre-employment medical examination pilot scheme involving three clinics in Manila and a selected group of shipowners.
P&I club service director Herry Lawford said the club was planning to invite more members to participate in the Manila scheme and to extend it to eastern European countries, China and India.
The club had chosen Manila to carry out the pilot scheme because the Philippines supplied about 20 per cent of the world's seafarers.
Mr Lawford said since August 30 last year, 94 out of 977 applicants had been screened out as medically unfit after they were subjected to stiffer health tests than normally required by the Philippine Government.
He said in the policy years 1994, 1995 and 1996, the UK P&I Club had received more than 6,000 claims. Illness claims ranged between US$5,000 and $20,000, while repatriation claims averaged about $5,000.
A typical claim therefore cost between $10,000 and $25,000, he said, adding that the cost of examining the 977 candidates had been about $80,000.
