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February 28, 2014

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Home » Metro » Health and Science

Migrants suffer health woes

By Cai Wenjun | February 28, 2014, Friday | Print Edition

Over half of the migrant workers suffer from various diseases and health problems, a study revealed yesterday.

The city’s first study of migrants working at local construction sites found most of them don’t go to hospitals because of long queues, high medical costs and complicated procedure.

The study, which interviewed a total of 1,594 migrant workers, found the general health condition of the migrants was lower than local residents. They struggled with respiratory and digestive diseases, their major ailments, besides skin, urinary and eye diseases and injuries.

About 37 percent of the workers chose to endure the sickness, avoiding trips to the doctors or taking medicines, said officials from Shanghai No. 1 People’s Hospital, which conducted the study.

About 28 percent of workers said they would go to drugstores to buy medicines if the situation worsened.

But 35 percent of workers also said they sought professional help, with equal number saying they visited the health clinic on the construction site. Only 23 percent approached doctors at big hospitals.

About 67 percent of the workers said they never went for regular health checkup with only 18 percent saying they planned to have regular checkups in the future.

On the positive side, the study found 71 percent have regular dining habit while 57 percent managed to have 7 hours of sleep every day.

The workers also eat less fatty meat. Some 9 percent eat vegetables, fruit, fish and shrimp frequently. Their understanding of healthy diet, like eating coarse grain, is also poor.

MetroHealth and Science


 

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