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www.marinelink.com MN47The National Maritime Center's monthly report on the performance of the mariner credentialing program, March 2012) (Image courtesy USCG)are undefined and broad. ?Delays are tremendous in the medical area,? Arnold said, complaining that the current process requires expen- sive and unnecessary tests. ?It takes months to handle rou- tine things. They have taken a simple, two page form that has worked for years, and turned into a nine page docu- ment that scares most doctors.? Carpenter adds, ?It seems to us [the AWO] there are two safety imperatives that need to be honored: that mariners are medically and physically fit to do their jobs, and sec- ondly, that the industry doesn?t prematurely lose its most experienced personnel.?If a mariner has one of the more than two hundred med- ical conditions listed in the NVIC, they must submitadditional tests and documentation to the Coast Guard. But the NVIC doesn?t tell mariners when the numbers put them at risk of losing or failing to attain their licenses. ?The process is well-intended, but there is a real need to clarify the standards,? said Carpenter. ?Mariners need to know what the goal posts are in order to retain their licenses.? If a mariner needs to lose 70 pounds, better to know that a couple years ahead of time, rather than find- ing out from the NMC after they have submitted their application for renewal. To tackle this problem, the Coast Guard formed the Merchant Mariner Advisory Committee (MMAC), which held its inaugural meeting in September 2011. As of April this year, the MMAC consisted of ten medical profession- als from organizations such as Seafarers Health and Benefits, Pilot Healthcare Inc. and Horizon Lines, LLC MN#5 (32-49):MN 2011 Layouts 5/7/2012 10:12 AM Page 47