At 15:00 on April 25 (Thursday), the National Health Commission held a press conference in the press conference hall of Building 2 of the National Health Commission (No. 38, Beilishi Road, Xicheng District) to introduce the relevant situation of "promoting the high-quality development of health and protecting the lives and health of the people" and answer questions from the media.
Deputy Director General and Spokesperson of the Publicity Department of the National Health Commission
Hu Qiangqiang
Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon, and welcome to the press conference of the National Health Commission.
This year's April 25 to May 1 is the 22nd National "Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Law" Publicity Week, our committee and the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the National Health Insurance Administration and other five departments to carry out publicity activities with the theme of "adhere to prevention first, protect occupational health". During the Publicity Week, we will focus on improving the occupational health literacy level of workers and protecting their health rights, and carry out a series of publicity activities.
At today's press conference, we will focus on the theme of "insisting on prevention and protecting occupational health", and introduce to you the relevant situation of occupational health work.
The guests who attended the conference were:
Mr. Wang Jiandong, Deputy Director General of the Department of Occupational Health of the National Health Commission and First-Class Inspector;
Mr. Sun Xin, Director, Institute of Occupational Health and Poison Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention;
Mr. Zhang Zhongbin, Chief Expert of the Occupational Safety and Health Research Center of the National Health Commission and Director of the Ergonomics Office.
Ask them to answer your questions together.
Now let's move on to today's on-site Q&A session, and please inform your news organization before asking questions.
Xinhua News Agency reporter
What is the mid-term evaluation of the 14th Five-Year Plan for the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases?
Deputy Director of the Department of Occupational Health of the National Health Commission, first-class inspector
Wang Jiandong
Thank you for your question.
In 2023, the National Health Commission, together with the member units of the National Inter-Ministerial Joint Conference on Occupational Disease Prevention and Control, that is, 17 member units, as well as the State Administration of Taxation and the National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention, jointly conducted a mid-term evaluation of the national 14th Five-Year Plan for the prevention and control of occupational diseases. Judging from the results of the mid-term evaluation, "more than half of the time and half of the task" have basically been achieved. We have implemented the 12 quantitative targets and indicators of the 14th Five-Year Plan for the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases, and about 10 of them have been completed or are close to completion, which means that we are less than 10% away from the end and mid-term goals of the 14th Five-Year Plan, 8 indicators have been basically completed, and 2 indicators are within the range of 10%. There are also two indicators, the awareness rate of workers' occupational health knowledge and the coverage rate of rehabilitation services in towns and villages where pneumoconiosis patients are concentrated, which need to be improved.
The evaluation results show that since the implementation of the 14th Five-Year Plan, under the correct leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and through the joint efforts of all parties, positive progress and remarkable results have been achieved in the key work of occupational disease prevention and control. There are three aspects that stand out:
First, we should adhere to the principle of prevention and increase the intensity of prevention at the source. We focus on mining, metallurgy, building materials and other industries with serious hazards of dust, chemical poisons, noise and radioactive occupational diseases, and carry out in-depth special treatment of occupational disease hazards. As of the end of last year, 185,000 enterprises were included in the special governance across the country, and 75,000 have been completed. Carry out the monitoring of occupational diseases and hazard factors, and achieve full coverage of industries with serious occupational disease hazards, key occupational disease monitoring counties and districts, and monitoring diseases. We have strengthened the linkage between monitoring and supervision and law enforcement, hazard management and the construction of healthy enterprises, and supervised and inspected more than 920,000 employers, built 19,000 healthy enterprises, and selected 69,000 "occupational health experts". Therefore, the host just said that April 25 to May 1 is the 22nd "National Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Law" publicity week, and the theme of this year's publicity week is "adhere to prevention first, protect occupational health", the purpose is to continue to strengthen the source of prevention, consolidate the pneumoconiosis action and the effectiveness of the special treatment of occupational disease hazards, and unswervingly implement the prevention first policy.
The second is to continuously improve the level of occupational health examination and occupational disease diagnosis and rehabilitation. There are 620 occupational disease diagnosis institutions, 5,670 occupational health examination institutions, and 829 pneumoconiosis rehabilitation stations across the country, basically forming an occupational disease diagnosis and rehabilitation system of "prefecture and city diagnosis, county and district physical examination, and township rehabilitation". From 2021 to 2023, that is, since the implementation of the 14th Five-Year Plan, it has provided occupational health examinations for 53 million workers, about 90,000 occupational disease diagnosis services, and more than 1.2 million free rehabilitation services for 200,000 pneumoconiosis patients.
The third is to strengthen the construction of the support system and promote scientific and technological innovation. There are 2,059 occupational health and radiation health technical service institutions nationwide, and there are 74,000 professional and technical personnel for the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases. The National Health Commission and 28 provinces have set up technical support institutions for engineering protection. The "National Mine Safety Technology Innovation Center", "National Pneumoconiosis Diagnosis and Treatment Center" and provincial and ministerial key laboratories for pneumoconiosis prevention and control have been established. The Key Laboratory of Dust Hazard Engineering Protection of the National Health Commission has also selected 64 advanced and appropriate technologies for dust and virus prevention in two batches, transformed a number of scientific and technological achievements, and improved the cooperation and linkage mechanism with provincial engineering protection institutions.
Thank you!
Reporter of Phoenix TV
Occupational health is the rights and interests of practitioners, how can practitioners protect their rights and interests in their own work, and then avoid occupational health injuries to themselves?
Director of the Institute of Occupational Health and Poison Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Sun Xin
First of all, thank you for your question.
In fact, the right to occupational health is the most basic health right of workers, and more importantly, we professional workers enjoy the rights and interests of occupational health protection, occupational health education and training, regular occupational health examinations, and diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of occupational diseases in accordance with the law. To sum up, first of all, the employer must perform several duties: first, to perform the contract notification, when the employer has occupational disease hazards, it must sign a labor contract with the employee, and in the labor contract, it must clearly indicate the workplace, what occupational disease hazards and consequences exist in this position, including protective facilities and other guarantees, which is the first to perform the contract notification. Second, it is necessary to fulfill the warning notice. For example, like traffic safety, if there are occupational disease hazards in the workplace, in the workplace, our positions and equipment should be marked in a conspicuous position in the form of graphics or warnings, etc., to explain the types of occupational disease hazards and health problems in the workplace, as well as prevention and emergency measures.
In addition, employers with occupational disease hazards should regularly organize workers exposed to occupational disease hazards to conduct occupational health examinations, which are divided into several stages, before taking up their jobs, during their work, when leaving their posts, including after the occurrence of some emergency accidents, our workers who are exposed to occupational disease hazards, should carry out emergency occupational health examinations, including when leaving the post, there are mainly some long-term health damages, and they should be subject to off-the-job health examinations.
If there are occupational disease hazards, the enterprise should carry out regular testing and evaluation, and inform the workers in writing and inform them on the bulletin board.
Employers with occupational disease hazards shall provide workers with personal protective equipment that meets national standards, including protective masks, earplugs, etc. In addition, once a suspected occupational disease or occupational disease occurs, the employer has the responsibility to organize the diagnosis and appraisal of the occupational disease patient, including follow-up treatment and rehabilitation.
In the process of work, the worker shall strictly abide by the safety operation procedures, and if the management of the employer obviously violates the rules and regulations and forces the employee to take risks, the worker has the right to criticize, report and accuse.
Thank you.
Red Star News reporter
According to statistics, the number of employees absorbed by small and medium-sized enterprises accounts for nearly 80% of the total number of employees, and the implementation of the main responsibility of occupational health is a difficult problem for small and medium-sized enterprises, especially small and micro enterprises.
Chief expert of the Occupational Safety and Health Research Center of the National Health Commission, director of the Ergonomics Office
Zhang Zhongbin
Thank you for your question.
Indeed, as you said, the number of small, medium and micro enterprises in the mainland is relatively large, and the proportion in our country is relatively high. According to the data of the fourth national economic census of the mainland, 99% of the employees are micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in registered legal person employers, with 230 million employees, and the number of employees in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises accounts for 79.4% of the total number of employees. However, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises are limited to scale, because the closure and transfer are more frequent, and the population flow is relatively large, and their occupational health management foundation and related capabilities are still relatively weak. Therefore, in order to effectively protect the health rights and interests of workers, our country has set up a special column for occupational health assistance for small, medium and micro enterprises in the "14th Five-Year Plan" for the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases, with the purpose of improving the occupational health management ability of small and medium-sized enterprises, effectively protecting the health rights and interests of the majority of workers, and improving our business environment. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, our country has also used the central transfer payment funds in recent years to carry out a series of activities, and the monitoring of occupational disease hazards and occupational diseases has been integrated with the work of helping small, medium and micro enterprises, and has achieved relatively good results.
In the next step, on the basis of summarizing relevant good experiences and good practices, we have formulated the "Work Plan for Occupational Health Management and Assistance for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises from 2024 to 2025", with the aim of helping no less than 20 enterprises in each county and district of the country every year. By guiding enterprises to carry out the identification, analysis and evaluation of occupational disease hazard factors, we will improve the ability of enterprise occupational health management, and achieve the goal of 100% by the end of 2025, the declaration rate of occupational disease hazard projects, the regular detection rate of occupational disease hazard factors in the workplace, the development rate of occupational health examinations and the training rate of occupational health of the assisted enterprises can reach 100%.
In the next step, we will continue to improve relevant policies, promote the prevention and control level of small, medium and micro enterprises from the institutional perspective, and effectively or better protect the occupational health rights and interests of the majority of workers.
Thank you!
Reporter of CCTV Social and Legal Channel
In recent years, everyone has been very concerned about the results of the continuous monitoring of occupational diseases and hazards, what are the results of this monitoring? What are the top rankings of occupational diseases and hazards? Are there any new changes? Thank you.
Deputy Director of the Department of Occupational Health of the National Health Commission, first-class inspector
Wang Jiandong
Thank you for your question.
In August 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping made important instructions on the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases. In November 2018, the State Council held a special meeting to promote the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases. The meeting proposed that the scope of monitoring of occupational diseases and hazards should be expanded. Since 2019, the National Health Commission has conscientiously implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions and instructions on the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases, and established and improved the national occupational disease and hazard monitoring and reporting system in accordance with the requirements of the State Council Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Promotion Committee, and expanded the monitoring of diseases from the original 10 occupational diseases to all occupational diseases, that is, 132 kinds of ten categories. The monitoring of key occupational diseases has been extended to counties (districts), and the types and scope of monitoring diseases have been expanded to all factors and all types of occupational health examinations, such as pre-employment, on-the-job, off-the-job and emergency health examinations. In 560 key counties (districts), the monitoring of occupational disease hazards in the workplace of small, medium and micro enterprises has been carried out, and the current situation of occupational disease hazards in key industries in mainland China and the health status of workers exposed to occupational diseases such as dust, chemical poisons and noise have been basically grasped. This is also the first time since the founding of the People's Republic of China that this base number has been figured out. Therefore, the occupational disease reporting system covers 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, involving more than 2,000 counties (districts).
From the monitoring results, we find that: First, a total of 307,000 employers in key industries have been monitored across the country, and more than 53 million occupational health examinations have been monitored, of which more than 24 million have been exposed to various occupational diseases. More than 1.815 million jobs with occupational disease hazards have been monitored, that is, by monitoring the status of workers' exposure to occupational disease hazards and the status of occupational health examinations, it provides a foundation and basis for us to do a good job in the prevention and control of occupational disease hazards in the workplace and strengthen and deepen the management of occupational disease hazards.
Second, more than 70 million cases of occupational health examinations were reported nationwide, 76,700 suspected occupational diseases were found, and 1,156,000 occupational contraindications were found. Here I will introduce a little bit of what is a suspected occupational disease and what are occupational contraindications. Suspected occupational disease mainly refers to the discovery of certain clinical manifestations and symptoms through occupational health examination, which is suspected to be an occupational disease, but has not been diagnosed, or has not been diagnosed by the attribution of the occupational disease, and is a temporary suspected occupational disease. If an occupational disease is diagnosed, the employer or the work-related injury insurance must compensate the employee. The other is occupational contraindications, which is evidence of evidence, which means that when a worker is exposed to specific occupational disease hazards, such as exposure to dust or chemical poisons, he is more likely to suffer from occupational diseases than the general occupational population, or he has an underlying disease, such as active tuberculosis, and there are occupational contraindications for positions that are exposed to dust hazards, so he cannot engage in this occupation, and if he engages in this occupation, the risk of pneumoconiosis is greater. Therefore, after we find these suspected occupational diseases and occupational contraindications, we can take timely diagnosis or adjust the job position to better protect the occupational health of workers. Therefore, monitoring has played a role in timely discovering workers with suspected occupational diseases and more than one million workers with occupational contraindications, and can take timely measures to protect the health of workers.
Third, we have a comprehensive grasp of the risk and development trend of occupational diseases. The monitoring found that the concentration of occupational disease hazards in industries is obvious, and occupational disease hazards are mainly distributed in mining, manufacturing, metallurgy, building materials and other industries. In 2020, the National Health Commission organized a national survey on the status quo of occupational disease hazards in industrial enterprises, and the results showed that 40% of workers in industrial enterprises were exposed to various occupational disease hazards. Just now, the reporter asked what are the top few, the first is noise, the second is dust, and the third is chemical poisons, which are noise and dust poisons in terms of ranking, mainly these types of occupational disease hazards.
According to the results of the monitoring, in the next step, we will further improve the regulations, standards and policy measures for the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases, further deepen the management of occupational disease hazards, and better protect the health rights and interests of workers.
Thank you!
Reporter of Hong Kong Economic Herald
Can I use a general health check-up instead of an occupational health check-up? What should workers do if they find out that they are suspected of having an occupational disease? Thank you.
Director of the Institute of Occupational Health and Poison Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Sun Xin
Thank you for your question, first of all, I would like to answer your first question, you can't replace occupational health check-up with a general health check-up. I took a look at the media friends who came here today, and all of them have more or less participated in health check-ups, and now they are organized by employers, and some of them may be organized by individuals. The general health examination and the occupational health examination we discussed are different from the object, purpose, organizational form and legal basis, the basis of some clinical diagnoses, including the cycle and technical requirements, to the final conclusion, including the treatment of the patient later.
The so-called object here is different, and everyone can participate in the general health examination, but the occupational health examination is mainly for newly hired workers who are exposed to occupational disease hazards in the workplace, and of course it also includes transfer personnel.
For different purposes, we go for a physical examination, mainly to understand our health status and disease status. Our occupational health examination is mainly to find three, one is the early detection of occupational diseases, just now Director Wang said that monitoring plays a lot of roles. The second is occupational contraindications, just now Director Wang also explained what are occupational contraindications, after discovering these problems, workers should be transferred from this position to further reduce the damage to occupational health. The third is the form of organization, we generally go to the physical examination on our own, and you can do it by registering in the hospital, but our occupational health examination is first organized by the employer, and a certificate must be issued, that is, the list of contact personnel, contact with dust or poisons in industrial sites, or exposure to noise, these types and concentration intensity should be provided to occupational health inspection institutions.
In addition, the basis is different, everyone goes to the general health examination is clinical diagnosis or blood routine, and some clinical diagnosis and treatment standards. Occupational health examination mainly refers to the type of hazards that workers are exposed to in the workplace, the type, concentration, and intensity to determine your cycle, including the items and indicators of inspection. Of course, we don't emphasize excessive physical examinations, anyway, people of a certain age have to participate in physical examinations, but occupational health examinations have cycles. We are exposed to dust and chemical poisons in the workplace, and the concentration and intensity determine the cycle, whether it is checked once every six months or once a year.
In addition, the technical requirements are not the same, the occupational health examination must be carried out in a medical institution filed with the health administrative department, and there are requirements for the chief examiner, equipment and conditions. The conclusion is also different, as you know, the physical examination is generally in good condition, or you have a disease. The conclusions of our occupational health examination included five items, no abnormalities, re-examination, suspected occupational diseases, occupational contraindications and other diseases.
The treatment method is also different, we generally find some health damage in the physical examination, and the clinician will give you some guidance, and we will go for re-examination and diagnosis and treatment. In addition to the clinical medical advice just mentioned, the occupational health examination will also propose to transfer you from the post if you find occupational contraindications, and if you are found to be suffering from an occupational disease, the next step is to apply for a diagnosis. This is where the two health checks are not quite the same.
Thank you!
Deputy Director General and Spokesperson of the Publicity Department of the National Health Commission
Hu Qiangqiang
There is a second question.
Director of the Institute of Occupational Health and Poison Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Sun Xin
Once an employee finds that you are suffering from a suspected occupational disease or occupational disease, the employee can apply for an occupational disease diagnosis in three places, one is the place where the employer is located, the other is the place of household registration, and our usual place of residence. The National Health Commission has increased access to the entire service. Just now, Director Wang said that the county can diagnose the city, and the county can do the physical examination.
In addition, the diagnosis of occupational diseases requires some information, that is, the occupational history and exposure history of the worker in the workplace, and the information on your exposure to dust and chemical poisons in the workplace. The other is the concentration intensity, which is provided by the employer. Once the diagnosis institution has made a clear conclusion, after diagnosing that you are an occupational disease, the institution shall issue a diagnosis certificate to the worker, and the worker can apply for relevant benefits from the relevant departments, mainly the work-related injury insurance department, with the diagnosis certificate.
Everyone is also very concerned, once the diagnosis is made, the worker feels that there is an objection, and the application can be made here. If it is a two-level appraisal, the prefecture-level city where our occupational disease diagnosis institution is located can go to the health administrative department where the prefecture-level city is located for diagnosis. If there is any objection to the municipal diagnosis, you can apply to the provincial health department for diagnosis, and the provincial diagnosis is the final diagnosis.
Thank you.
Reporter of the Voice of China of the main station
In addition to the traditional front-line "blue-collar" workers, what other occupational health risks do "white-collar" workers face?
Director of the Institute of Occupational Health and Poison Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Sun Xin
There are still a few days left to be the "May Day" Labor Day, labor is the most glorious, but our labor has no color, only the division of labor is different. The "blue-collar" workers we talk about usually refer to the manual workers in the manufacturing and construction industries, and the "white-collar" workers are the same as the media friends now, and everyone is engaged in intellectual labor. "Blue-collar" workers, we have discussed a lot earlier, mainly in the front line exposure to dust, chemical poisons, noise caused by some traditional problems such as pneumoconiosis, poisoning, including the problem of noise concentration. When it comes to "white-collar workers", the first impression is given to everyone, the appearance is glamorous, and they are mainly engaged in some office buildings. However, our survey found that in reality, "white-collar workers" are often one of the people with greater work pressure and anxiety. Because it has something to do with the way we work, we often work overtime, including the fact that we are now working remotely and require 24-hour on, which virtually increases a lot of work pressure. Work stress leads to a number of cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, ischemic heart disease, and some mental health problems. Therefore, once white-collar workers do not manage their physical and mental health, it will bring varying degrees of damage. In addition, there is another feature, long-term desk work, frequent use of computers, mobile phones, often may lead to some neck, shoulder, wrist damage.
In addition, our work style, such as being often sedentary, leads to chronic diseases such as obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes, which are common health problems faced by white-collar workers. But how to prevent it? Today, I will take this opportunity to tell you about it.
From the perspective of employers, first of all, there are some service industries that do require long hours of work, and employers should reasonably arrange working hours, including rest periods, in accordance with the law to protect the health rights and interests of workers. Personally, there are a lot that can be done, for example, some workers work long hours, it is recommended to take a five-to-10-minute break for one hour of work, do some outdoor activities, and you can also do some stretching activities in the office. In addition, to maintain the correct sitting posture, we are now asking for two 90 degrees, I will show you, the first 90 degrees is to keep the legs at 90 degrees, the body and thighs at 90 degrees, try to keep the arms and wrists in a straight line, these help us to maintain good health.
In addition, there is some desk work, try not to work in one position for a long time, you can rest for five to ten minutes an hour to relieve yourself.
You can also do some targeted activities, such as some stretching activities just mentioned. The National Health Commission and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions held three collections of occupational health communication works, and many professionals, including grassroots ones, created many creative stretching videos, which can be downloaded for free on the websites of the National Health Commission, the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Occupational Health Institute.
In addition, the occupational health protection action in the Healthy China Action clearly states that the health protection of fixed-position workers should be strengthened, one is the long-term desk work with their heads bowed, and the long-term forward-leaning sitting posture, including teachers, doctors, and nurses, and the other type of health protection for people such as drivers who are mainly seated in fixed positions.
Thank you!
Cover News Reporter
What is the progress of the adjustment of the "Classification and Catalogue of Occupational Diseases" and what are the principles and working ideas for the selection of diseases to be included in the Catalogue of Occupational Diseases? Thank you.
Deputy Director of the Department of Occupational Health of the National Health Commission, first-class inspector
Wang Jiandong
Thank you for your question.
First of all, I would like to introduce to my media friends the differences and connections between occupational diseases and work-related diseases.
According to the relevant regulations of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the practice prevailing in various countries around the world, occupational diseases generally have a legal definition. According to the relevant provisions of the Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Occupational Diseases, occupational diseases refer to diseases caused by exposure to dust, radioactive substances, and other toxic and harmful substances in the course of occupational activities by workers of enterprises, public institutions, and individual economic organizations. There are three elements here, one is that the worker must be a worker in enterprises, public institutions and individual economic organizations, the second is in professional activities, and the third is because of exposure to toxic and harmful substances. Is the disease caused by these three elements an occupational disease? Diseases caused by exposure to occupational disease hazards in occupational activities can only be called occupational diseases if they are diseases in the list of occupational diseases. In other words, a statutory occupational disease must have these four elements. One is a worker in an enterprise, a public institution or an individual economic organization, the second is that the disease must be contracted in occupational activities, the third is due to exposure to occupational disease hazards, and the fourth is that the disease must be a disease in the list of occupational diseases. Our national occupational disease catalogue was published in 2013, and the current occupational disease catalogue has 132 occupational diseases in 10 categories, and these 132 diseases are the legal occupational diseases in our country. Therefore, among our professional people, we often say that low back pain, cervical spondylosis, and varicose veins caused by long-term standing may be caused by poor working methods or poor sitting postures at work, but they may also be caused by bad life behaviors in our lives. These disorders are generally referred to collectively as work-related disorders, which are both work-related and life-related, and may also be related to other factors. From the perspective of relevance, statutory occupational diseases are diseases that are selected from work-related diseases, which are easy to be attributed and diagnosed and included in the classification and catalogue of occupational diseases. In other words, our 132 diseases are part of work-related diseases, which are easy to diagnose by the attribution of occupational diseases, and are diseases caused by workers' exposure to occupational disease hazards in occupational activities, which is the difference and connection between the two work-related diseases and occupational diseases.
All sectors of society are paying close attention to the adjustment of the catalogue and hope to expand the types of diseases and include more diseases caused by occupational groups in occupational activities into the classification and catalogue of occupational diseases. Since 2020, the National Health Commission has organized relevant units to carry out preliminary research on the adjustment, to understand the progress of the formulation of the catalogue of foreign countries and the International Labour Organization, and to listen to the opinions of all parties on the adjustment of the catalogue through visits to employers, occupational disease diagnosis institutions and relevant departments and experts such as the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. On this basis, we have organized professional institutions to study and compile diagnostic criteria for the proposed new diseases, and the adjustment of the catalogue is being accelerated and orderly in accordance with the procedures.
In addition, there are more than 700 million employed people in our country, and the adjustment of the occupational disease catalogue generally follows the principle of gradual and steady progress, and the new occupational diseases should be adapted to the level of economic and social development of our country, focusing on key occupational groups, making up for the shortcomings of the current catalogue, and basically not increasing the employer's work-related injury insurance rate. According to these work ideas, we should do a good job in the selection of relevant diseases included in the catalog. Therefore, it is important to note here that the purpose of formulating or adjusting the classification and catalogue of occupational diseases is to prevent them. When we say that all occupational diseases can be prevented, we should highlight the implementation of the principle of putting prevention first and protect the occupational health rights and interests of workers in accordance with the law. For the diseases included in the catalogue, the employer shall implement the corresponding responsibility for the prevention and control of occupational disease hazards in accordance with the law, do a good job in the occupational health management of workers, and avoid or reduce the suffering of occupational diseases to the greatest extent. For work-related diseases that are not included in the classification and catalogue of occupational diseases, the focus is to encourage employers to carry out regular health examinations for workers, improve the working environment and conditions, carry out health guidance and health management for workers, do a good job in popularizing the knowledge of work-related disease prevention, improve workers' awareness and skills of disease prevention, and achieve the goal of not getting sick and getting sick less.
Thank you!
Reporter of Macau Monthly
Compared with hospitals, many workers do not know much about occupational disease prevention and control institutions, what are the current occupational disease prevention and control institutions, and how to better strengthen services? Thank you.
Chief expert of the Occupational Safety and Health Research Center of the National Health Commission, director of the Ergonomics Office
Zhang Zhongbin
Thank you for your question.
I would like to first introduce our occupational disease prevention and control institutions, which are now divided into four categories in our country, the first is the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Institute, which mainly provide technical support for the government and, of course, provide services to enterprises. The second category is occupational health and radiation health technical service institutions, which mainly provide enterprises with related services such as detection and evaluation of occupational disease hazard factors, as well as occupational disease hazard management, protective facility transformation, technical consultation, etc., so as to help enterprises provide a good working environment and working conditions for workers. The third type is the occupational health examination institutions, which are to provide occupational health examination services for enterprises and workers exposed to occupational disease hazards, and the physical health status of our workers is to monitor them through physical examination in occupational health examination institutions to see if they have any physical problems, and we will take measures in time if there are problems. The fourth type of institution is an occupational disease diagnosis institution, where a worker has symptoms of illness and whether it is an occupational disease or not, he or she needs to go to an occupational disease diagnosis institution for diagnosis.
In recent years, the National Health Commission has vigorously built its system in terms of laws and regulations, policies, support capabilities, and talent teams. At present, there are more than 3,300 disease control centers and occupational disease prevention and control institutions in China, and more than 8,300 occupational health and radiation health technical service institutions, occupational health inspection institutions, and occupational disease diagnosis institutions that undertake the task of technical support for the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases. These institutions have played an important role in safeguarding the occupational health rights and interests of workers and promoting enterprises to create a good working environment. However, there are also some problems, some institutions are not very capable, some institutions do not standardize their service behaviors, and some institutions have violations of laws and regulations, and there are fraudulent behaviors. In response to these problems, the National Health Commission will organize and carry out quality improvement and compliance actions for occupational disease prevention and control institutions this year in accordance with the requirements of laws and policies such as the "14th Five-Year Plan" for the prevention and control of occupational diseases, with three main goals: the first goal is to improve the ability of the CDC and occupational disease prevention and control institutions to standardize the monitoring of occupational diseases and hazards. The second goal is to standardize the service work of occupational health and radiation health technical service institutions, improve the reporting rate of technical service information and regulatory coverage, and strictly investigate and deal with violations of laws and regulations. The third goal is to further strengthen the standardized management of occupational health inspection institutions and occupational disease diagnosis institutions, and improve the rate of case information reporting, quality control coverage, quality control problem rectification rate, and the investigation and handling rate of related illegal cases. Focusing on the above goals, we will take measures such as capacity building, talent training, and supervision during and after the event to promote the high-quality development of occupational disease prevention and control institutions, so as to provide a stronger guarantee for the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases and the protection of workers' occupational health.
Thank you.
Deputy Director General and Spokesperson of the Publicity Department of the National Health Commission
Hu Qiangqiang
Thank you, Director Zhang. For the sake of time, let's ask one last question.
21st Century Business Herald reporter
Pneumoconiosis is the number one occupational disease in mainland China, why is it difficult for many patients with pneumoconiosis to be diagnosed with occupational pneumoconiosis, and what measures are taken to solve such problems?
Deputy Director of the Department of Occupational Health of the National Health Commission, first-class inspector
Wang Jiandong
Thank you for your question, pneumoconiosis has been the largest and most reported occupational disease in our country for many years, accounting for about 90% of all reported occupational diseases. Judging from the number of workers exposed to occupational disease hazards, noise hazards are now the number one occupational disease hazard factor, and dust hazards are the second; however, judging from the number of reported occupational disease cases, pneumoconiosis is still the number one occupational disease. According to the provisions of the current Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Occupational Diseases, the diagnosis of occupational diseases is an attributive diagnosis, that is, on the basis of clinical diagnosis, the occupational history of the worker, the history of exposure to occupational disease hazards, the test results of occupational disease hazards in the workplace, and the results of clinical examination.
Just now, Director Zhang introduced that our occupational health technical service institutions should test the occupational disease hazard factors in the workplace, and the test results should be recorded in the file. Therefore, when a worker has pneumoconiosis and is clinically diagnosed as pneumoconiosis, then in which unit do you work, do you have an occupational history, and whether you have been exposed to dust, which is called occupational disease hazard exposure history. So whether the dust in your workplace exceeds the standard depends on the test results. The other is the patient's clinical manifestations and the results of clinical examination and auxiliary examinations. The diagnosis of occupational diseases can only be made through comprehensive analysis and differential diagnosis with other diseases. Therefore, the diagnosis of occupational diseases is an attributive diagnosis, that is, the causal relationship between the toxic and harmful factors that workers are exposed to in their occupational activities and the diseases they suffer from.
Speaking of pneumoconiosis, that is, whether there is a causal relationship between the dust that the worker is exposed to and the pneumoconiosis you suffer from, whether you are exposed to dust in occupational activities, I just talked about the four conditions of statutory occupational diseases, whether it is in occupational activities, whether it is in an enterprise, whether it is exposed to dust, and whether it is in the list of occupational diseases. Therefore, there is no problem in the diagnosis of occupational pneumoconiosis in medical technology, and the main difficulty lies in the fact that after the worker is exposed to dust hazards, it will take a few years, ten years or even more than 30 years to show the symptoms of pneumoconiosis, which is a special feature of pneumoconiosis. Because most of these patients are migrant workers, many migrant workers have worked in multiple employers with dust hazards and have been exposed to dust, but it is difficult to confirm the labor relationship of the employer, and there is no problem at all in the clinical diagnosis technology, the difficulty is to obtain relevant diagnostic evidence, the labor relationship cannot be determined, and the employer who is responsible cannot be identified, resulting in the inability to carry out the attribution diagnosis of occupational diseases.
In response to these problems, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress revised the Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Occupational Diseases three times in 2011, 2017 and 2018, all of which involve the improvement of the diagnosis and appraisal system of occupational diseases, and strive to facilitate the diagnosis and appraisal of occupational diseases by workers. At the same time, in 2021, the National Health Commission made a comprehensive revision of the Administrative Measures for the Diagnosis and Appraisal of Occupational Diseases in accordance with the law, requiring the employer to bear the main responsibility for providing the materials required for the diagnosis of occupational diseases by the employee. The civil affairs department applies for medical assistance and livelihood assistance.
In accordance with the provisions of the Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Occupational Diseases and the Administrative Measures for the Diagnosis and Appraisal of Occupational Diseases, the health administrative departments shall conduct an investigation in accordance with the law and urge the employers to provide relevant materials. In response to the problem of assistance for patients with pneumoconiosis who cannot be clearly identified, in recent years, the state has actively carried out monitoring to prevent the return to poverty due to illness, and included pneumoconiosis in 30 special treatment categories for monitoring serious diseases, so as to maintain the continuity and stability of relevant treatment policies. At present, especially the three types of households monitored by the state, that is, households that are unstable in poverty alleviation, households that are vulnerable to poverty on the margins, and households with sudden serious difficulties, the treatment rate of pneumoconiosis in the scope of monitoring has reached more than 99%. In particular, with the help of central transfer funds, 829 pneumoconiosis rehabilitation stations have been built in 28 provinces (autonomous regions) relying on township health centers or community health service centers. This pneumoconiosis rehabilitation station is aimed at both occupational pneumoconiosis and migrant workers' pneumoconiosis, that is, pneumoconiosis patients who are not responsible. As I mentioned earlier, more than 1.2 million free rehabilitation services have been provided to these pneumoconiosis patients.
At the same time, we have promoted local governments to increase their efforts to rescue and rescue, and areas with concentrated pneumoconiosis have also actively carried out relevant relief work, and formulated and introduced relevant safeguard measures, especially in Hunan Province, which has established a basic medical assistance and treatment policy for pneumoconiosis for migrant workers since 2017. The Hunan Provincial Government and the Provincial Federation of Trade Unions allocate more than 50 million yuan every year to help migrant workers with pneumoconiosis who are not responsible, which greatly reduces the burden of medical expenses on patients. Fujian, Guizhou and other places have included pneumoconiosis in the reimbursement scope of local outpatient chronic diseases, which has also effectively reduced the burden of outpatient medication for pneumoconiosis patients.
In the next step, our committee will work with relevant departments to promote local governments to formulate and introduce more rescue and security policies for pneumoconiosis patients, and while striving to curb the increase of pneumoconiosis, we will take multiple measures and provide classified assistance to ensure the stock of pneumoconiosis and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of workers' occupational health.
Thank you!
Deputy Director General and Spokesperson of the Publicity Department of the National Health Commission
Hu Qiangqiang
Thank you, Mr. Wang.
That's all for today's on-site Q&A session, and today's press conference focused on "insisting on prevention first, guarding occupational health" to answer everyone's questions. Next, we will continue to hold press conferences around the theme of "Promoting the High-quality Development of Health and Protecting the Life and Health of the People", and welcome everyone to continue to pay attention.
Thank you, distinguished guests, and thank you journalists, and this concludes today's press conference.
Source: National Health Commission website, China.com
Editor: Guan Zhongyao
Proofreading: Ma Yang
Review: Qin Mingrui, Xu Bingnan