KUALA LUMPUR: The 50-year-old man faces the doctor and keeps repeating "Huh? Huh?" as he is asked questions.    

Suddenly, he said almost too loudly: "Oh, ya, my ear is painful."

The doctor prescribes pain-killers and ear drops, and points to the door.

Six years later, the man has retired. He can't hear his wife or music. The TV is just a flicker of images without sound.

He has lost his hearing. But more than that, the worker who has given the best years of his life to the factory has also been "robbed" of a pension from Socso. This is thanks to the doctor who failed to find out more about his hearing problem and what caused it.

Like thousands of others who face noise pollution and other hazards at the workplace, Socso members are losing out on one-off payments of RM3,000, monthly pensions and medical aid all because doctors failed to link their medical problems to their jobs.

The Social Security Organisation has schemes to help such workers if doctors can certify the link between the medical problem and the work environment.

However, a staffer from the Human Resource Ministry said most doctors were only interested in the symptoms.

"Most of them do not ask questions about the workplace."

Last year, only 350 occupational disease cases were filed with Socso, with the highest being for loss of hearing, followed by breathing difficulties and skin disease.

Socso members are also largely unaware that they can get more if their diseases can be linked to their job or the workplace.

Bosses also do not inform the staff as they fear extra expenses.

The ministry official said: "But the onus is on the doctor. He should take the initiative to ask more questions, not just about symptoms."