For labourers, health is a very important factor, but healthcare for workers is now not given proper attention. Many businesses remain indifferent to building medical networks and organising medical checkups for their employees, while this is an essential and legitimate demand to ensure the life of their employees and sustain their development.
In many companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, where machinery, equipment and technologies are outdated, workers are prone to high workplace risks. Over 80 percent of workers are working in hazardous and toxic environments like exposure to toxic chemicals, air pollution, noise, poor lighting, toxic fumes and serious pollution. The health of a majority of workers is not guaranteed. In dangerous working places like coalmine, construction sites, casting and forging factories, this situation is also at an alarming level.
Healthcare in those companies is not very good because they fall short of facilities, time and care while workers lack information and knowledge to access guaranteed quality healthcare services and demand legitimate rights and interests. Besides, the coordination in inspection and examination in occupational health is weak. In the past time, many seminars have been held to seek solutions like upgrading physical facilities and human resources for preventive health services at all levels, surveying workplace environments, deploying occupational disease prevention in highly exposed facilities. However, this reality has not been changed much.
Nguyen Quang Vinh, Director of the Office for Business Sustainable Development - VCCI, the lead coordinator of the project “Propaganda, training, consulting activities to enhance the quality of occupational safety and sanitation for workers in small and VCCI-member medium enterprises”, said employers and employees need to be trained and practised occupational hygiene and occupational diseases must be diagnosed and treated to recover functionality of employees. The cooperation and coordination of occupational health and workplace hygiene agencies is also very important.
He stressed that in 2013 the Ministry of Health issued the Circular No. 14/2013-BYT on obligatory periodical medical checkups for workers. Many companies, including VCCI members, have collaborated with preventive medicine centres to check health, occupational disease for workers. Therefore, many workers have been detected with diseases soon enough for treatment and job assignment.
Besides, action groups in the Project 2 of National Programme for Labour Safety and Hygiene in the 2011-2015 period are also actively being deployed with the hopes of bringing more benefits for workers.
The Project 2 of the National Programme for Labour Safety and Hygiene in the 2011-2015 period focuses on prevention and fight against occupational diseases and healthcare for workers. The project is led by the Ministry of Health in coordination with the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance, the Vietnam Occupational Health Association, the Vietnam Occupational Safety and Health Science and Technology Association, and other concerned agencies.
Accordingly, by 2015, 15 percent more medical units are capable of monitoring working environments and diagnosing and detecting occupational diseases; 10 percent more manufacturing facilities are monitored and measured working environments; an annual increase of 5 percent of workplaces organise periodic health examinations for workers; 5 percent more labourers have occupational diseases checked, etc.
Main activities of the project are to focus on deploying the model of preventing common occupational diseases; supporting equipment; upgrading medical units, treating and recovering functions for workers suffering from labour accidents and occupational diseases.
Vietnamese
