The translation of medical certificates

At some point we’ve all had to ask for a medical certificate from our doctor. Either because we need it to be able to work or because we need it to access a certain service. Medical Certificates are some of the most requested documents in the sworn translation industry. According to the Cantabria Official Cantabria College of Doctors, a medical certificate is a document issued by the doctor for the purpose of recording certain facts relating to the health, illness or assistance received by a patient.

Types of medical certificates

Medical certificates can be of various types: health, death, psychological, toxicological etc. and their format varies depending on the function they perform and the centre that issues them. Normally, all medical certificates have sections in common, which include the name of the person requesting the certificate and the name of the doctor, the date of issue of the document, details relating to the patient, etc. and another personalised section that is usually more specific.
This type of translation is quite successful today as many people need this service to be able to carry out procedures abroad. In the last year for example, according to the Medical College Organisation of Spain, the amount of medical certificates issued to leave Spain increased considerably, especially in the case of certificates issued for work or study purposes.

Complexity in the translation of medical certificates

The translation of medical certificates is not the easiest, given that the translator normally needs a knowledge of medicine, like terminology and phraseology used in the industry. The translator has to deal with typical features of this field, such as the use of abbreviations or the presence of handwritten sections. In this case, the translator not only does they translation work but also has to decipher the meaning of the words written by the doctor.
For this reason, sworn translations of this type of document have to be done by a professional translator, able to handle the peculiarities of the area of medicine. At CBLingua, we have a professional team of translators, with a lot of experience in medical translation and in medical certificates. Therefore if you need a translation of your certificate, don’t hesitate to contact us.