China Watches Health of Migrant Workers

Ministerial-level authorities in public health, social security, and work security supervision joined trade unions and business representatives in discussions.

Health Minister Chen Zhu said during the forum he is particularly concerned about migrant workers.

"Migrant workers tend to change their jobs frequently. They also move around a lot. So it has been hard for us to trace them and assess their health conditions."

The minister noted that law enforcements are needed so that employers fulfill their responsibilities.

It is estimated that 2 hundred million Chinese have at least one kind of disease related to their jobs,many of them suffer from dust lung.

As of 2007, 600 thousand people in China were recorded to be living with the disease.

140 thousand people had died of the disease by then.

Li Yuhuan is vice chairman of a major fund for treatment of the disease.

"We now have 100 million Yuan in funds. That is enough to cover lung lavage treatments for just 10 thousand patients. Compared to the number of such patients, what we can do is limited."   

Chen Rui, with the Health Ministry, says migrant workers need to take health into consideration when looking for jobs.

"They need to keep in mind several things. First, they must sign legally effective labor contracts. Also, make sure that they have work-related injury insurance paid by the employers. And they have to make sure they are provided with proper industrial safety costumes and equipment."

Governments around China have launched educational campaigns this week, educating workers on how to find proper legal solutions for physical damage they incur at work.

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