Sick farmers want help
By Jane Chen |
July 20, 2010, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TWO dozen farmers in Yunnan Province are attempting to get compensation from former employers for a fatal occupational lung disease linked to their former mining work.
The local government is giving free medical treatment to the farmers and assisting their compensation bids. But officials told yesterday's Yunnan Information newspaper that it is difficult to find the employers because the workers didn't sign contracts.
The government of Zhaotong City's Yanjin County organized a medical check-up for the county's farmers after some suggested last September they may have contracted pneumoconiosis, an occupational disease caused by inhaling dust, after working in a gold mine in Shanxi Province about 10 years ago.
They said at least eight farmers working there died in the past three years and many others developed the same symptoms of difficulty in breathing, chest pain, coughing and weakness.
All the victims had worked at a gold mine in Fanzhi County of Shanxi's Qizhou City.
The government's medical check-up indicated 24 out of the 40 farmers contracted the lung disease. Two died in the following months. The other 22 are being treated at local hospitals, all fees covered by the government.
But treatment only slows the illness rather than cures it, because there is no cure, Wang Zhengbin, director of Yanjin Health Bureau, told the newspaper.
The workers have asked for the government's help.
The local government is giving free medical treatment to the farmers and assisting their compensation bids. But officials told yesterday's Yunnan Information newspaper that it is difficult to find the employers because the workers didn't sign contracts.
The government of Zhaotong City's Yanjin County organized a medical check-up for the county's farmers after some suggested last September they may have contracted pneumoconiosis, an occupational disease caused by inhaling dust, after working in a gold mine in Shanxi Province about 10 years ago.
They said at least eight farmers working there died in the past three years and many others developed the same symptoms of difficulty in breathing, chest pain, coughing and weakness.
All the victims had worked at a gold mine in Fanzhi County of Shanxi's Qizhou City.
The government's medical check-up indicated 24 out of the 40 farmers contracted the lung disease. Two died in the following months. The other 22 are being treated at local hospitals, all fees covered by the government.
But treatment only slows the illness rather than cures it, because there is no cure, Wang Zhengbin, director of Yanjin Health Bureau, told the newspaper.
The workers have asked for the government's help.
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