# meaning of "still referred to the Medical Officer of the Commonwealth"



## Tarusha123 (Oct 18, 2012)

Hello All,

Yesterday I received a mail from my CO saying the status of your health assessment is "still referred to the Medical Officer of the Commonwealth".

Can anybody please tell what does this mean? Is it something I have to worry about?

Also, where can I see my status of heath assessment? I tried exploring skillselect but couldn't get a clue.

Any help is greatly appreciated.


----------



## espresso (Nov 2, 2012)

Hi Tarsha123, 

The *good news* is: Your medicals have arrived in Australia. 
The *bad news* is: It might take a while to process them. 

To be more exact, your health examinations had to be sent to a Medical Officer of the Commonwealth (*MOC*) for additional checking. That does not have to alarm you, it happens quite frequently. Maybe you the panel doctors found a minor health condition (blood pressure, over- or underweight, diabetes etc.) and wrote so on your health form. In that case the CO cannot just clear the medicals (because he does not have the expertise to judge how the condition might affect you long-term) but has to refer them to a medical expert for assessment. 

Thread about others in the same boat: http://www.expatforum.com/expats/au...-medical-results-referred-what-does-mean.html

The backlog seems to be quite long at the moment (processing of October referrals) and the Christmas holidays are also coming soon. There are no other options than to wait and see. 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you'll get your grant soon!
Monika


----------



## Tarusha123 (Oct 18, 2012)

espresso said:


> Hi Tarsha123,
> 
> The *good news* is: Your medicals have arrived in Australia.
> The *bad news* is: It might take a while to process them.
> ...


Thanks for your response Monika.  I just checked with the doc who did m medicals & he confirmed that there is nothing wrong & in fact all tests were good. Just that I had TB about 10 yrs back which I did mention in the form, the doc sais that might be the reason of my case being referred. However the doc said since the TB exists no more & even the certificate of the doc who confirmed 10 yrs abck that I was fit has been submitted, there should not be any issues. However the doc advised me to check with DIAC to see what's required from my end.


----------



## espresso (Nov 2, 2012)

Hi Tarusha123, 

oh yes, a medical history with TB surely explains the referral!

The Instructions for Panel Doctors might also help you. They state: 



> If a history of TB is elicited, full treatment records, including drug regimens, duration of and response to treatment, and ongoing follow-up, should be obtained.


I suppose you told your panel doctor about your TB ten years ago and even attached treatment records, right? Then it should - in general - not be problematic: 


> *25.7 Inactive TB*
> [...] If the applicant is asymptomatic, HIV-negative and without radiological signs of active TB, and/or has a history of previous TB treatment with no indication of active disease currently, form 26 should be *graded B* and submitted to the department without sputum collection or further investigation. [...] The MOC *may request further information* if concerned about disease activity. However *in many cases this may not be the case*, although the applicant may be requested to be reviewed through the onshore surveillance program (which requires attendance at a TB clinic in Australia for surveillance).


You can prod your CO if you should supply additional records regarding your TB treatment or just wait until (and if) he asks. 

Have a nice day, 
Monika


----------



## Tarusha123 (Oct 18, 2012)

espresso said:


> Hi Tarusha123,
> 
> oh yes, a medical history with TB surely explains the referral!
> 
> ...



He Monika,

Thanks so much for all that info, really helpful.. 
From what you have mentioned I believe there should not be any issues as the medical certificate regarding the fitness after TB has already been supplied.. & besides this is 10 ys old story - 1999 

Fingers crossed until I hear on this though..

Do you know by any chance where can I check the status of the medicals? All I see is " received" in the skillselect..


----------



## espresso (Nov 2, 2012)

As far as I know you - as the applicant - do not have direct access to the results but need to go through your CO, who in turn needs to wait for the MOC to report back and clear your medicals or ask for additional info.


----------



## mark001 (Apr 10, 2012)

Tarusha123 said:


> He Monika,
> 
> Thanks so much for all that info, really helpful..
> From what you have mentioned I believe there should not be any issues as the medical certificate regarding the fitness after TB has already been supplied.. & besides this is 10 ys old story - 1999
> ...


Hi Tarusha 123,

Have you got any further update from your CO or can see any status change in EOI?

My medicals were also referred in December and my dependent was asked to do further tests as BP was slightly high.
From other threads I came to know that cases which were referred in November were finalized by January end.

Cheers!
Mark001


----------



## redyelloworange (Jul 2, 2013)

Hi Tarusha123,

I was wondering if you could please give a quick update on your visa application status with regard to the medicals. My case is similar where I have a history of cured tb in the past, and I too have a certificate of fitness from my doctor. Therefore learning about your experience would definitely be helpful to me. 

Thanks, and good luck.


----------



## dura (Jul 17, 2013)

Hi

could any one tell me how long it could take for a medical assessment sent to Australia be fiinalised.

I applied for student visa (subclass 574 for PhD) and my case officer just told me my medicals which was sent from Nigeria left Pretoria South Africa for assessment in Australia on Friday 12th July '13. The most worrisome of all is that my course commensement and enrolment is on 29th July '13. In my medical history, I have not had any case of hospitalization, nor cases of TB, HIV, Diabetes....etc.

Is there any one here in same shoes with me? Does any one knows how long it could take the DIAC office in South Africa to grant my visa?

Thanks. Dura


----------



## tomato_juice (Jul 31, 2013)

Hi Monica.

Thank you very much for your comprehensive explanations regarding MOC related issues. 

Could you clarify what is the maximum timeline for processing referred cases please? My health tests were uploaded on June 23 2014 and were referred to MOC because of Hepatitis B but still no response from CO since that time.


----------



## _shel (Mar 2, 2014)

There is no maximum, they take as long as they need taking into account any extra information they need to gather or have asked you to provide and how many other applications they are looking at. It could take weeks or several months.


----------



## tomato_juice (Jul 31, 2013)

OK. Another question is next. My personal observations on this forum has revealed that in case of any health related issues people are usually asked to provide additional med docs or undergo additional health test with a month or so. In my case a bit more than 2 months has passed since my health test results were uploaded and since that time I wasn't contacted and asked to provide additional medical docs or undergo additional tests for Hepatitis. What does/could it mean?


----------



## espresso (Nov 2, 2012)

Hi tomato_juice, 

DIBP just switched the medical service provider a month ago, so who knows how fast/slow processing will be. To case officer will contact you if you need to submit anything else. For now, the only thing you can do is wait...


----------

