List of Recommended medicines and Equipment by International Medical Guide for Ships - Third Edition
List of Recommended Medicines
List of Recommended Medicines is a group of 50 IMPA-coded items (codes 390352–391753) under List of Recommended medicines and Equipment by International Medical Guide for Ships - Third Edition in the Medicine section (IMPA 39). They are priced per bottle (45), per piece (3) and per tin (1), among others.
Buying guide
The International Medical Guide for Ships (IMGS) is WHO’s guide for the designated first-aid providers on board. It shows them how to diagnose, treat and prevent seafarers’ health problems. The third edition, published in 2007, includes a list of recommended medicines for the ship’s medicine chest, in line with the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines.[1][3]
This group holds the medicines on that list, 50 lines. They include pain relief and anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, antimalarials, cardiac and respiratory medicines, injectable emergency medicines, eye and skin preparations, and items such as hand-cleansing gel, insect repellent and permethrin lotion. The equipment on the same list, and the older second-edition lists, are separate groups.
How to specify it
The third edition itself gives no quantities. Get them from the flag’s national list where there is one; otherwise use WHO’s Quantification Addendum (2010). It gives recommended quantities for 55 medicines in the IMGS for three ship types, calculated for voyages of one month. Category A is ocean-going ships with 25–40 crew and no doctor, category B coastal ships with up to 25 crew within 24 hours of port, and category C small craft with 15 crew or fewer within a few hours of port.[3][2]
Say which voyages the ship makes. Expert interim advice on the third-edition list marks antimalarials such as artemether as needed only for voyages to areas where malaria is a risk. That advice also lets owners substitute exact equivalents on the advice of a medical practitioner or pharmacist, and order the nearest pack size above the minimum.[3]
Order by generic name, form and strength, and ask for labels and an inventory in the ship’s working language. Under the Australian rules, for example, labels must be in English with the generic name, strength, expiry date and batch number. The inventory must record each item’s expiry date, storage conditions and remaining quantity.[5]
Rules and certificates
MLC, 2006 Standard A4.1 requires every ship to carry a medicine chest, medical equipment and a medical guide. Their specifics are set by the flag and subject to regular inspection, taking into account the type of ship, the number on board and the nature, destination and duration of voyages. Guideline B4.1.1 asks flags to take into account the latest edition of the International Medical Guide for Ships when deciding the contents.[4]
The same guideline asks for the medicine chest to be inspected at intervals of no more than 12 months by persons the flag designates. They check labelling, expiry dates, storage conditions and directions for use.[4]
The WHO collaborating centres for seafarers’ health describe the IMGS list as not a formal international instrument, though flags without national requirements have long relied on it. Their interim advice on it is not mandatory either; it is the flag’s responsibility to set requirements in a legally binding way. Ships carrying dangerous goods also need the MFAG medicines, and items already on the IMGS list may count towards those.[3]
Questions buyers ask
- Is the IMGS 3rd edition medicine list mandatory?
- Not in itself. The MLC requires a medicine chest set by the flag, and asks flags to take the latest IMGS into account. Where the flag has no national list, the IMGS list is the usual reference.
- How many of each medicine should a ship carry?
- The flag’s list decides. Where there is none, WHO’s Quantification Addendum gives quantities for three ship categories, based on a one-month voyage, and a pharmacist adjusts for crew size and trading area.
Sources
- TSO: International Medical Guide for Ships, 3rd edition (WHO, ISBN 9789241547208), publication listing
- TSO: Quantification Addendum: International Medical Guide for Ships, 3rd edition (WHO, 2010, ISBN 9789241547994), publication listing
- Schlaich C. et al.: Guidance to the International Medical Guide for Ships 3rd edition: interim advice regarding the best use of the medical chest (Int Marit Health 2009; 60(1–2): 51–66)
- ILO: Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, as amended (consolidated text), Regulation 4.1, Standard A4.1 and Guideline B4.1.1
- Australian Maritime Safety Authority: AMSA 438, Medical carriage requirements (August 2016)
Published by Sherif Awad, founder of GeoMarineHub — in ship supply since 1990, a family business since 1981 (45 years). Last checked .
At a glance
Part of Medicine (IMPA section 39): The ship’s medical chest — medicines, dressings, instruments and first-aid supplies to the flag scale.
It is one of 2 groups under List of Recommended medicines and Equipment by International Medical Guide for Ships - Third Edition; the others include List of Recommended Equipment.
Post the ones you need as a requirement and verified suppliers activated at your port bid on them — sealed, so nobody sees another bid.
- Items
- 50
- IMPA codes
- 390352–391753
- Priced
- per bottle · per piece · per tin
Items
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