Maritime medicine deals with the health of seafarers, fishermen and off shore employees and more specifically with their employment, working, living conditions, health and safety at sea. Maritime doctors should have the appropriate training and competencies to provide equivalent service as in land. This review discusses the required skills and competencies of maritime doctors and explores the associated ongoing discussions for the establishment of a global accredited training programme in

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... me health. Methods: Literature review was done in two databases PubMed and Google scholar. Search terms included: maritime doctors, maritime medicine, occupational health, skills and competencies. Literature published between 1990 and 2018 was prioritised. Thirty-five articles that discussed the skills, competencies and education of maritime doctors and health professional were retrieved, reviewed and discussed plus 8 reports and documents from relevant International Organisations webpages. Results and discussion: The doctors who serve in the sector, should have extensive knowledge about medical practice but also about the environment of seafaring. The complexity of their roles coupled with the provision of high quality of services in global shipping call for high quality accredited training and harmonisation of maritime health practices. The analysis for policy using two policy models i) the health triangle and ii) the Kingdon model showed that a window of opportunity appears to be in favour of such a policy regarding the recognition of the maritime medicine as a medical specialisation. The international stakeholders together with the International Maritime Health Association should actively advocate such a perspective which will be in favour of the seafarers who will enjoy better health and wellbeing with higher income avoiding ill-health as well as the shipping industry which will employ satisfied and loyal employees and enjoy higher reputation.