Diving Medical Form: What to Fill In Before Diving in Thailand

Featured image: Dirk Enthoven, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

What the diving medical form is and what changed in 2020

Recreational agencies share one screening system. WRSTC endorsed its current version in June 2020. It replaced the RSTC Medical Statement, first published in 1989. An independent group of dive medicine experts drafted it, with input from the UHMS diving committee and Divers Alert Network. The system has three parts, and you will only meet one or two of them. The questionnaire itself has 10 statements. Divers with only No answers usually finish in a few minutes. The form opens with a plain line: if you are pregnant, or attempting to become pregnant, do not dive. A COVID-19 statement is also included. A Yes there means a physician screens you.

• Diver Medical Participant Questionnaire: you complete it yourself.
• Diver Medical Physician's Evaluation Form: a physician completes it, only when approval to dive is needed.
• Diving Medical Guidance: a reference document for physicians, now hosted online by the UHMS and 12 pages long.

Which diving medical form your Thailand dive center will use

Agencies do not all use the same paperwork. PADI courses start from either the RSTC Medical Statement or the 2020 form, and PADI's own guidance calls the 2020 version recommended but not required. SDI and TDI centers use their own Medical Statement. CMAS publishes the 2020 questionnaire in many languages, Thai included, and leaves rollout to each national federation. Ask your Thailand dive center which form it runs before you travel. Then download that exact form and fill it in at home.

All No or any Yes: what happens at the dive shop

Your answers decide the day. With all No answers, you sign and the briefing carries on. With any Yes, you move to page 2 of the 2020 form. Further Yes answers there lead to page 3, the Physician's Evaluation Form. Instructors cannot waive that step. Answering No to dodge a delay is the worst option, because you would be diving with a condition nobody has assessed. The 2020 form also has no comments box for physicians. Its designers removed it so doctors stop writing limits such as "only to 10 meters (30 feet)". Medical bodies consider those conditional clearances unacceptable, so expect a clear fit or not-fit answer.

• All No: sign the questionnaire and go to your briefing.
• Any Yes: complete page 2 and see whether the answers point to page 3.
• Page 3 needed: a physician completes the evaluation form before you dive.
• Pregnant or trying to become pregnant: do not dive.

Before you fly or in Thailand: where to get the signature

We'd get any physician sign-off at home. Your own doctor knows your history, the visit happens on your schedule, and you arrive with the paperwork done. Doing it abroad risks a rejected first dive day. Ask the dive center or a local clinic about language, appointment time and cost, because we have no verified Thai clinic details to give you. Print the Physician's Evaluation Form (page 3) and the 12-page Diving Medical Guidance, then hand both to the doctor. Ideally pick one familiar with dive medicine. PADI accepts other physician documents too, as long as they state you are fit to scuba dive or freedive. Ask your operator whether it wants an original or a scan.

Conditions that commonly trigger a Yes

The questionnaire screens broad health areas, including heart and lung health, ears and sinuses, medication, recent illness and COVID-19. Its designers did not include a previous decompression illness question. They judged that lasting effects would show up in other answers. We can't tell you whether a condition is safe for diving. That call belongs to a physician, and the UHMS guidance exists to help them make it. Asthma, a recent illness or regular medication all mean one thing: take the form to a doctor before the trip. This article is general information, not medical advice.

Insurance, flying and camera plans that sit next to the form

A medical declaration can affect what your dive policy covers. Read dive accident insurance cover before you book. DAN members should also see DAN cover for Thailand. Regional help is listed at DAN Asia-Pacific. Your final dive affects your flight home, so plan it using flying after diving rules. Photographers booking multi-day trips can pair the paperwork with underwater photography planning.

Mistakes to avoid with your diving medical form

These are the slips that cost divers a morning on the boat.

• Leaving the form until the dive shop counter.
• Answering No to avoid a delay.
• Carrying an unsigned or expired physician note.
• Skipping a check that the signature says you are fit to dive.
• Filling in a form from an unrelated agency.