The occupational medicine in both German
states was internationally accepted in 1989,
although base, origin, subordination and
organisation were profoundly different. The
characteristics and opportunities of the former
East Germany’s occupational medicine
will be discussed in this paper. The basic principle
was hygiene, and therefore prevention.
The political task was to ensure good medical
care for the working class, although this
resulted in problems as well as opportunities.
As early as 1958, occupational hygiene
became an obligatory branch of medical
study in the GDR. Independent chairs for occupational
hygiene existed at all 9 medical
universities, while after 1990, 4 of the 9 remained
with “relative” independence.
Within the GDR, “work-related diseases”
stood for one of the five major directions in
medical research. In the years to come after
the German reunification, it was in particular
the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology
(BMFT) which made efforts to preserve
this interdisciplinary research.
All scientific specialists of occupational
and health protection had belonged to the
GDR’s professional society “Gesellschaft
für Arbeitshygiene und Arbeitsschutz”. The
structures of relevant societies within former
West Germany differed substantially. This is
one reason why a simple unification of both
systems never took place, and East Germany’s
professional society was instead dissolved.
In summary, the opportunities inherent
in a true unification were not realised
and possibly even could not be realised at
that time. After adopting the dual system of
health and safety at work of the FRG, no fundamental
problems appeared in the eastern
part of the country. This is not least thanks to
the well-educated specialist staff in this field.
