'Stop screening would-be workers'

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'Stop screening would-be workers'

February 14, 2011

Chinese medical institutions and the people who run them will face the

possibility of public exposure and administrative punishments if they continue

to provide screening tests to companies wanting to know if prospective workers

are carriers of hepatitis B, China's top health authority has warned.

In a statement released on Saturday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said medical

institutions are not allowed to carry out hepatitis B tests on behalf of

companies as part of pre-employment physical examinations, regardless of whether

or not consent is obtained from the candidates.

The move is aimed at safeguarding people's right to work in a country where

discrimination is rife against carriers of infections such as hepatitis B and

HIV/AIDS.

Hospital directors found to have violated the rules will be exposed to the

public and will invite strict administrative punishments, the ministry said.

The latest move follows the results of a survey released last week showing that,

despite existing rules and regulations, some 61 percent of 180 State-run

companies polled still include hepatitis B screenings in their pre-employment

physical examinations.

Moreover, 63 of the 180 companies either said they would never consider

hepatitis B carriers for a job or would be reluctant to hire such people.

The survey was conducted by the non-profit Beijing Yirenping Center.

Yu Fangqiang, leader of the advocacy group, told Xinhua News Agency that such

violations were mainly down to the light punishments available for those who

break the rules and the pursuit of profits by some medical institutions.

In the past, employers have only been fined a matter of thousands or tens of

thousands of yuan for carrying out such tests, and then only if they lose

lawsuits.

The legal actions are expensive and few candidates discriminated against have

the time and money to bring such cases.

Liu Xiaonan, an associate professor with the China University of Political

Science and Law, called on the government to hammer out a specific law and set

up a special committee to investigate such cases of discrimination in order to

ensure the rights of hepatitis B carriers are protected.

Given that China has about 120 million hepatitis B carriers and at least 20

million chronic hepatitis patients, awareness of the conditions remains low

among the public, experts said.

It has been scientifically proven that the hepatitis B virus can only be

transmitted from mother to child during childbirth or by contact with the blood

or other bodily fluids of an infected person, not by casual contact.

In its statement, the MOH ordered health administrations nationwide to carry out

careful investigation into all cases of hepatitis B-related discrimination and

pledged that hospitals found to be still providing such tests to employers would

be punished in accordance with laws and regulations.

On Feb 10, 2010, the ministries of health, education and human resources and

social security jointly issued a circular demanding the cancellation of such

screening tests during health checks for school enrollment and employment

nationwide.

Source: China Daily