Occupational diseases in a critical situation in China_英语新闻

Chinanews, Beijing, May 1 – According to available statistics, by the end of last year, there were altogether 676,562 reported cases of occupational diseases. Among them, 616,442 cases were pneumoconiosis, which resulted in 146,195 people dead.

 

The information was revealed by Su Zhi, deputy director of the Health Supervision Bureau under the Ministry of Health at a press briefing released on Sunday.

 

At present, many people in China have suffered from contact occupational diseases. In pneumoconiosis alone, there have been about 10,000 new cases emerging every year for the past 15 years, he said.

 

Information from the 29 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps shows that last year, about 11,519 cases of occupational diseases were reported, with 8,783 cases being pneumoconiosis. There were 467 cases in which workers suffered from work-related acute poison and 1,083 cases of chronic poison resulting from work. Statistics show that from 1991 to 2006, there were 38,412 poison cases happening on work sites and 21,708 cases related with other kinds of occupational diseases.

 

Experts from the Occupational Health and Poison Control Institute under the China Disease Prevention and Control Center said that in future the incidence of occupational disease would continue to rise in China. Current reported cases can not reflect the real situation in the occurrence of occupational diseases, they asserted

 

China is faced with a critical situation in its occupational diseases, which has developed into a social problem affecting the public’s health, Su said.