The obligations of medical practitioners in relation to the new Mines and Works Act.

The Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act No. 78 of 1973 deals with compensation to be paid in cases of pneumoconiosis and other compensatable diseases such as tuberculosis, permanent obstruction of the airways and scleroderma. Any medical practitioner who attends a miner or worker from a 'works' such as Iscor, Amcor and several others at present controlled, is obliged, if death occurs, to remove the cardiorespiratory organs and forward them to the Medical Bureau for Occupational Diseases, unless the near relatives refuse permission for an autopsy. A pathologist who performs a routine autopsy on such a person must follow the same procedure.