Category: Medical Written by: Daqeeq Date: 15 Mar 2021
Daqeeq says….
The ever-green demand on crucial health care translation services
Medical translators were among the first to get jobs in countries like the GCC, where the oil boom and the growing economy led to substantial improvement in the health care provision. In the 1970s and even before, many of the health personnel were recruited from other countries, including UK, US and Asian states. The translation and interpretation service was essential for the communication between doctors and patients and even between health care providers and local health cadres and officials.
Things have changed and with education, the demand for foreign doctors has dwindled over the past five decades, yet the entire world is still in need for translators specialized in this field. Besides, medical translation is not about interpreting between doctors and patients or local medical staff. It involves the translation of documents, training instructions, awareness campaigns copywriting, manuals of medical devices, pharmaceutical pamphlets, patient history, marketing materials, technical documentation and college textbooks in countries where the use of the national language is the language of instruction. Highly crucial is the translation of research material related to new medicines that have undergone the trial phases and are submitted for approval by regulators in target markets, especially where the translation of such documents is mandatory.
The need for medical translation has seen a sharper rise when COVID-19 hit the world and the transfer of educational knowledge targeting the masses became vital. What added to this is the existence of hundreds of millions of refugees on foreign lands, according to UN reports, and the need of host countries to communicate with these people amid the anti-pandemic fight.
Accuracy, quality, knowledge in the subject matter and ability to work under pressure are among the main requirements that should be met by medical translators. After all, it is people’s lives that are on the line in this situation. Any mistake could be a fatal one. Experts warn against using amateur interpreters like a family member or a friend to communicate with doctors in multilingual situations.
In general, the global medical industry seeks professional and responsible translation agencies to carry out the translation job, especially when it comes to the highly sensitive regulatory side of the process. Timing is important, too. Language service providers will always work under strict deadlines when doing jobs for medical and pharmaceutical companies.
Medical interpreters are aware that they play a crucial role that can change a person’s life forever. To be up to the challenge, they have to believe in what they are doing and show unwavering commitment to quality and accuracy. They should always be on top of their jobs by keeping up with developments in the healthcare landscape globally and communicate with peers and experts to find the best translations for emerging terminology. Preparedness and alertness are the name of the game.
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