The Hubei Provincial Labor and Social Security Department, with the help of 12 local hospitals, offered a free physical examination to migrant workers in Wuhan, capital city of the province, from November 24 to December 26. The result showed that among the 14,000 who received the check, 40 percent had this or that kind of illness.

 

The result of the examination shows that migrant workers' health is not in an optimistic situation. Among the 14,000 Wuhan migrant workers, 20.3 percent are infected with hepatitis B virus; 8 percent have fatty livers; 5 percent have kidney or gallbladder stones; 10 percent have cardiovascular diseases; and 67 percent of the female migrant workers have gynecological diseases, with uterine tumor, pelvic inflammatory disease and cervicitis being the most popular. 

 

According to a Xinhua News Agency report on December 27, most of the migrant workers are involved in dirty, tiresome and dangerous jobs, which need high labor intensity. They work long hours but get low pay. Being away from their families, they usually don't have enough nutrition for their meals and their housing conditions are very poor. Consequently, their health declines. Many migrant workers said that they seldom go to see a doctor, for they believe they are in good health, and also because they cannot afford the high medical expenses. They would go to a drug shop to buy some medication when they are seriously ill. Most of the migrant workers had not received any physical examination for many years.

 

Liu Desheng, director of the medical insurance section of the Hubei Provincial Labor and Social Security Department, said that the migrant workers' lack of health consciousness and their limited economic ability bring hidden health troubles to them. Migrant workers should strengthen their health consciousness. Meanwhile, Liu added, effective measures should be taken to improve the working and living conditions of migrant workers.

 

"Migrant workers should be covered by the social security system," Liu said. "Every migrant worker should have the equal access to medical security, but currently only a small part of them can enjoy it."  

 

"As long as the migrant workers offer their services to the society, they have the right to enjoy medical insurance to prevent medical risks." According to Liu, so far, about 4.92 million people in Hubei Province have their medical insurances, including retirees and working people in urban areas. But few among the 5 million migrant workers in the province have been covered by the system. The main reason is that migrant workers' incomes are too low.

 

"Most migrant workers don't think they need medical insurance since they are young and healthy, so they are not willing to spend their money on it. Meanwhile, there is discrimination against migrant workers. Many enterprises ignore migrant workers' legal rights by excluding them from the social security system," Liu said. "In order to solve this problem, on one hand, the government should supervise and urge enterprises to transact medical insurance for migrant workers according to law; on the other hand, migrant workers should push their employers to buy medical insurance for them while they pay the required part themselves."

 

Hubei is now working on the improvement of its medical insurance system. Beginning from next year, medical insurance will be available for more migrant workers, and enterprises will be put under tougher supervision.

 

(China.org.cn by Li Xiaohua, December 30, 2005)