The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations - the leading United Nations entity in the field of human rights - declared “Health” and “Access to Medicine” as fundamental human rights, indispensable for the exercise of many other rights linked with the principles of equality and non-discrimination, transparency, participation, and accountability.

For this purpose, key issues related to access to medicines must be taken into account such as sustainable financing, availability, and affordability of essential medicines; price and quality control; dosage and efficacy of medicines; procurement practices and procedures, supply chains, and healthcare localization to reach all target countries and enable them to deal with it, especially in developing countries. 

Medical Translation 

Speaking of Medical Translation, it is one of the most important fields of translation, which is used for translating medical reports, pharmaceutical descriptions of products, manuals of medical and healthcare devices, etc. From a humanitarian perspective, everybody is in need of medical support and healthcare aid, confirming the fact that many countries do not speak the certain language the original product is created in, thus, medical translation for pharmaceutical products can help save millions of lives. Businesswise, it is an essential requirement by most of the countries that the literature, labeling, and use instructions of medical devices and pharmaceuticals should be translated into the national language for accuracy and ease of use.

Medical Translation Challenges 

In medical translation, even one tiny mistake would lead to serious problems and can be catastrophic to human health, just as a mistranslated word in medication dosage or allergies can result in irreversible damage to users. One small mistake can cause big risks and huge losses, just like what happened in the Willie Ramirez case when a wrong word cost a hospital $71 million, which was the most expensive word in the world.

Cuban Willie Ramirez was only 18 when he suddenly developed a splitting headache. He was barely conscious when he got to his girlfriend’s house. They rushed him to the hospital, but he woke up paralyzed. He will never walk again. A brain bleed left him a quadriplegic for life. But the case should not have gone that way; the hemorrhage should have been treatable, but because they did not have access to a Spanish interpreter, the emergency room doctors believed that Willie should be treated for a drug overdose because his family said he was “intoxicado”. As Health Affairs explained, “intoxicado” is not the same as “intoxicated”. Unfortunately, doctors only discovered the hemorrhage after days of improper treatment, which was already too late. The hospital, which should have provided a professional interpreter, is liable for a settlement of approximately 71 million dollars to pay for Willie’s care for the rest of his life. 

That is why a medical translator is not just a translator like all the others because medical documents often consist of delicate information; he should have extensive knowledge of medicine, pharmacology, and also technology to handle the medical documents effectively. Biochemistry, genetic engineering, and physics comprehension might be also required in some typical fields. Therefore, to produce a perfectly accurate medical translation, you must be a professional linguist and a medical expert at the same time.

Medical Translation Requirements

Now that we understand the importance of medical translation and the fatal consequences of its incorrectness, let’s discover the main qualifications of a Medical Translator:

• Technical Medical Knowledge

Medical translation requires highly technical and delicate medical knowledge because words that we use commonly and daily may mean something very different in a medical text. Lots of abbreviations and medical-specific terms are used. Thus, before beginning to translate it’s a better idea to do a medical literature review. A Medical Translator might also be required to have a medical translator certification, which means he is well-versed in Technical Medical Knowledge.

• Must know Audience

It is also essential to know the audience of the translated document. For instance, a drug description translation may differ whether it is translated for commercial purposes or translated for a doctor. The language the translator uses must not be the same. For a commercial purpose, a simple and attractive tone would be enough, but it is not the best way to translate it for a doctor.

• Avoid Ambiguity in the Target Language

The translator must do his best to avoid ambiguity. For example, the word ‘’drug’’ in English means two different things in Arabic. The translator should be conscious of the context. It is also necessary to proofread the translation before delivery to avoid possible mistakes.

• Knowledge of Laws and Regulations

This is one of the most important requirements in Medical Translation because some countries have strict regulations regarding drug approval and other medical procedures. It is very important to take these details into consideration because a detail may cause a delay in the drug approval or even cause rejection. For such reasons, the translator must know the necessary information about regulations and applicable laws

• Real-Time Translation Capabilities

Medical translation can also be used verbally. As an example, a tourist may need to seek medical attention during vacation or doctors in seminars and conferences. In addition, as health tourism is a developing matter, it also makes medical translation more necessary.

• Try to Avoid Machine Translation

For medical translation services, the most important thing is to translate the medical text manually. It’s not a wise decision to use machine translation in a medical translation process. Machine translation may be able to help you translate the main idea, but keep in mind it is not meant to be used when translating specialized terminology, like the one used in a medical text.

Medical Translation Categories

We can now have a look at the most common Medical Translation categories, which are all of the same scales when it comes to their importance and necessity:

• Medical Reports
• Test Results
• Prescription
• Instructions for Medical Patents and Medical Stuff
• Pharmaceutical Translation
• clinical Trials and Investigations
• Medical Thesis 
• Medical Certificates
• Biomedical Translation
• Medical Microbiology Translation
• Medical Research and Experiments

Avoid Translation Disastrous Mistakes

To avoid committing fatal mistakes that may defame you and cost you a lot, you should always head to the experts. Contentech stands out as one of the most important providers of medical translation services in the industry using a mix of human talents and tools to deliver the best language translation services in terms of quality and time to drive you in the right, safe direction. 

We ensure providing you with the most valuable services through more than 1,000 diverse workforce talents, including natives, working on more than 100 language pairs and various dialects of the same language. Our talents have extended, proven expertise in mega projects of medical and healthcare translation, where they managed to serve humanity, save lives, and help grow businesses.