Background Thailand is classified by WHO as one of the 22 countries in the world with the highest TB burden. With a population of nearly 67 million, Thailand has about 93 000 new cases each year and an overall estimated TB prevalence of nearly 1 30 000 cases. There are many health reports that healthcare workers have many infection exposures not only from Tuberculosis but also have other respiratory infections too.

Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted during 2013–2016 among the healthcare workers. Data was collected through pre-employment examination from 1637 staffs (240 male and 1397 female) inclusive of clinical and non-clinical departments.

Results There were 35 cases (2.13%) of healthcare workers reported abnormal result in chest X-ray (figure 1). The comparison between the lung abnormalities (1.4%) and other abnormalities (0.73%) was done. There were 65.8% had lung abnormalities, 28.5% had bone abnormalities and 5.7% had mild cardiomegaly. There were 8 cases (34.7%) of lung abnormalities had diagnosed with lung tuberculosis. There were 3 active tuberculosis cases (8.5%) had to receive treatment prior to employment, and none of them had Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR TB). There were 4 cases (11.4%) diagnosed with old tuberculosis and only one case (2.8%) was NTM (Nontuberculous mycobacteria).There were 43.4% of lung abnormalities had small pulmonary nodule, 8.7% had fibrosis, 4.3% had cystic-like lesion. There were 8 cases (80%) of bone abnormalities had diagnosed with mild scoliosis and did not typically expect to cause problems.

Conclusions The pre-employment examination of healthcare workers is as important as any other occupations. The chest x-ray screening is cheap and relatively safe method. It might be helpful not only for their health but also useful to prevent patients from many communicable diseases.