Are pre-employment and periodic medical examinations required for workers in Uzbekistan?

Yes, for the groups the law lists. Labour Code Art. 360 makes the employer organise pre-employment and periodic examinations for workers under 18, workers of pension age, persons with disabilities, workers in adverse conditions, night work and transport-related work, and workers in the food industry, trade, other services to the public, schools and pre-school education. The Ministry of Health regulation registered under No. 2387 on 29 August 2012 sets the factors, the doctors involved and the intervals, typically every year or every two years.

Short answer

• Who: the groups in Labour Code Art. 360 and the jobs and harmful factors listed in the Ministry of Health regulation (chemical, physical and biological factors and specific types of work).
• Who examines: the medical institution that serves the organisation or, if none, the territorial medical institution; periodic checks may also be done at the national research institute for sanitation, hygiene and occupational diseases and the clinics of the Tashkent State Medical University.
• Interval: set per factor in the regulation's lists, for example every two years for inorganic nitrogen compounds such as ammonia and every year for many aldehydes; for noise every two years at 81 to 99 dB and every year at 100 dB or more.
• Cost and pay: the employer pays; the worker keeps the job and average pay during the examination.
• Refusal: workers may not refuse; the employer must remove from work anyone who has not been examined or ignores the commission's recommendations.
• Extra check: a worker who believes work has harmed his or her health may demand an unscheduled examination.

How the process runs

1. By 1 December each year the employer, with the territorial sanitary-epidemiological centre and the trade union committee, defines the job groups that need examination.
2. The employer sends the list of workers, with their jobs, harmful factors and length of exposure, to the medical institution.
3. The medical institution draws up a calendar plan agreed with the sanitary centre.
4. A medical commission, chaired by a doctor trained in occupational pathology, examines the workers with the specialists and tests required by the lists (for example spirometry for respiratory irritants or audiometry for noise).
5. The commission gives a conclusion on fitness for the work; an unfit conclusion is sent to the employer within three days.
6. After periodic examinations the commission draws up an act in four copies for the sanitary centre, the employer, the trade union committee and its own file, and places workers in follow-up groups (no signs, increased risk, occupational disease).

Women are examined by a gynaecologist at least once a year, and suspected occupational diseases are referred for confirmation of the link with work under the list approved by CM Resolution No. 62 of 8 February 2022.

Records and fitness decisions

The medical institution keeps an outpatient card (form 025-u) for each worker and passes it on if the worker changes job. Decisions on fitness belong to the medical commission; the employer acts on the conclusion, for example by transferring the worker to lighter work with his or her consent (Labour Code, Art. 364). The employer is responsible for harm caused by letting unexamined workers work.

Common mistakes

• Treating the medical as optional for contractors' staff. Each employer must organise the examinations for its own workers in listed jobs.
• Ignoring transfers. The duty also applies when a worker moves into a listed job (Labour Code, Art. 360).
• Using a general health certificate. The examination must cover the specialists and tests the list sets for each factor.

Related on excodex

• Occupational safety and health in Uzbekistan: law, authorities and employer duties
• Must an employer in Uzbekistan appoint a safety professional or occupational physician?
• Is a written risk assessment mandatory in Uzbekistan?
• Health surveillance in Türkiye: pre-employment and periodic examinations

Standards and further reading

• Labour Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan (2022), Arts. 360 and 364: https://lex.uz/docs/6257288
• Ministry of Health Order No. 200 of 10 July 2012, Regulation on medical examinations of workers, registration No. 2387 of 29 August 2012 (amended 7 May 2026): https://lex.uz/docs/2046010
• Law No. ZRU-410 of 22 September 2016 "On Labour Protection", Art. 24: https://lex.uz/docs/3031427

This article is general occupational safety and health information prepared by the excodex editorial team. It does not replace the applicable legislation, standards, manufacturers' instructions or the assessment of a competent OSH professional or occupational physician.