A Ministry of Health report reveals that each year 100,000 labourers in the country were checked for occupational diseases and more than 5,000 found to have diseases.

A Ministry of Health report reveals that each year 100,000 labourers in the country were checked for occupational diseases and more than 5,000 found to have diseases. — Photo vnmedia.vn

According to the report, employers and companies are implementing periodical medical examinations for workers.

The total number receiving the health checks from 2011-17 increased 1.6 times against the 2006-10 period.  Every year, between two and three million labourers receive periodical examinations.

However, this figure only accounts for about 20 per cent of the total number of employees nation-wide.

The current periodical health examinations are for the detection of common diseases in only a few enterprises. There is no mechanism for labourers without labour contracts to receive the tests.

Agencies and enterprises operating in fields where the working environment can be dangerous, must check for occupational diseases in addition to periodical medical examinations, according to Vietnamese labour law.

Diarrhoea high in children without vaccine

From 2015 to July 2017, HCM City’s Pasteur Institute collected 2,220 samples from diarrhoea patients aged under five for rotavirus tests. The results showed more than 45 per cent of samples were positive, Tuổi trẻ (Youth) newspaper reported.

The samples with positive test result were detected mainly among children aged from six months to 24 months.

Especially, 99 per cent of rota virus-detected samples were among children who didn’t take vaccine against the virus.

The institute doctors continued to send positive samples for gene tests.

The results showed that there were variations in the circulating strains of this virus.

According to doctors, it is necessary to maintain the surveillance of the virus to make accurate and timely responses.— VNS