simzara said:
Thank you for the reply. I was expecting all of that examination. In my birth country they do all of that, in a lot of cases you spend a few days in an army hospital where they do almost every test imaginable.
Medical standards (and medical examinations) are the same for both Regular and Reserve members; applicants also have to meet the same standards. The easiest way to explain why there is "seemingly" few medical tests (or the insertion of digits into body cavities) is to quote from CFP 154, "The CAF conducts
individualized, risk-related periodic health assessments (PHAs) . . .". Things have changed a lot in the fast approaching half century since I first had an enrolment medical or even in the 35 years since I was involved in conducting recruits medicals. At one time a standard panel of blood and urine tests were done for everyone and x-rays were more common, though prostate (or other intimate internal) examinations were never a part of an enrolment medical. All those tests cost money and, eventually, the usefulness of their results was determined to be marginal.
I wasn't able to find any studies on the CAF experience in the few minutes I took to respond but I did find
this 1987 article from the Journal of the RAMC in which a civilian physician who conducted recruit medicals related the experience of his ACIO. While the numbers included in his study are small, the following list of conditions that disqualified applicants from enrolment seems re-markedly similar to what I remember being the common reasons for not passing.
(in descending order)
1. Systolic Hypertension
2. Systolic Heart Murmurs
3. Orthopaedic/foot problems
4. Skin Disorders
5. Asthma/Hay Fever/Perennial Rhinitis
6. Obesity
7. Underweight
8. Ear Defects/Deafness
9. Eyesight / Epilepsy / Enuresis / Proteinura / Emotional Stability / Migraine
With the exception of only one condition (proteinura) none of the above would be discovered by a laboratory test. All the rest would have been discovered from a medical questionnaire and a properly conducted history taking and physical examination.