Chinanews.com, April 25. On the 25th, Li Tao, chief expert on occupational health of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a press conference on the theme of “Everything is for the Health of the People – Our Decade”, the diagnosis of occupational diseases is not an important part of medical technology. It is not difficult, but it is difficult to confirm the labor relationship between the sick worker and the employer, and to judge the causal relationship between exposure to occupational disease hazards and the disease. In response to this problem, the National Health and Health Commission has organized and revised the management methods for occupational disease diagnosis and identification, to facilitate the diagnosis and identification of patients’ occupational diseases as much as possible.
At the press conference, a reporter asked that after workers are endangered by occupational diseases, they often encounter problems that are difficult to diagnose. What are the main reasons for these problems? How to solve this problem in the future?
In this regard, Li Tao said that the diagnosis of occupational diseases is not difficult in medical technology, but it is difficult to confirm the labor relationship between the sick worker and the employer, and to judge the causal relationship between exposure to occupational disease hazards and the disease. . The diagnosis of occupational disease is essentially a diagnosis of the attribution of a disease. It is different from general disease diagnosis. In addition to making a judgment on whether the patient is sick, it is mainly to determine in which household unit the worker has been exposed to occupational disease hazards. , which occupational disease hazard factors are exposed to, and whether the degree of exposure to occupational disease hazard factors is enough to cause workers to become ill, the difficulty lies in this aspect.
According to the provisions of the Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Law, the diagnosis of occupational diseases requires a comprehensive analysis of the patient’s occupational history, exposure history to occupational disease hazards and the detection results of occupational disease hazards in the workplace, the patient’s clinical manifestations and auxiliary examination results, and other diseases. Differential diagnosis can be made in order to make a diagnosis of occupational disease.
Li Tao said that many workers, especially migrant workers, often worked in many employers before they became ill, and some workers even did not sign labor contracts with employers. At the time of diagnosis, it is impossible to prove the labor relationship between the worker and the employer, and it is also impossible to prove the occupational disease hazard factors and the degree of harm they are exposed to. At this time, the necessary evidence for the diagnosis of occupational diseases is lacking, and the employers who need to bear the responsibility cannot be identified, which may eventually lead to the failure of the diagnosis of occupational diseases and the inability to enjoy the relevant treatment of occupational diseases.
Li Tao pointed out that in response to the difficulty in diagnosing occupational diseases reflected by the society, the Law on the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases has been revised three times, which involves the improvement of the occupational disease diagnosis and identification system, especially in 2017 and 2018, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress made two recommendations on the prevention and control of occupational diseases. The amendments to the law have established a corresponding system for the diagnosis of occupational diseases. First, collective diagnosis by more than three physicians who have obtained occupational disease diagnosis qualifications has been abolished. In addition, the administrative examination and approval of occupational disease diagnosis institutions was cancelled, and the health administrative department was required to strengthen the standardized management of occupational disease diagnosis institutions.
According to the revision of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases, the National Health Commission organized the revision of the management measures for occupational disease diagnosis and identification, which will be promulgated and implemented in 2021. The new management measures for occupational disease diagnosis and identification have the following characteristics: First, According to the law, it is clarified that the occupational disease diagnosis certificate shall be signed by a practicing physician who has obtained the occupational disease diagnosis qualification, and shall be reviewed and stamped by the medical and health institution undertaking the occupational disease diagnosis. The second is to simplify the information required by workers for occupational disease diagnosis. The new method stipulates that workers only need to provide the occupational disease diagnosis materials that they have mastered, and the materials for occupational disease diagnosis and identification are mainly provided by the employer. The third is to clarify the time limit for occupational disease diagnosis for the first time, which greatly shortens the time for occupational disease identification and further facilitates the diagnosis and identification of patients. Fourth, according to the Law on the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases, if there is no evidence to deny the inevitable connection between the occupational disease hazard factors and the clinical manifestations of the patient, it should be diagnosed as an occupational disease. According to this regulation, the new method defines the connotation of evidence and proposes corresponding implementation regulations.
Li Tao said, in a word, under the current legal framework, the revised occupational disease diagnosis and identification management methods are as far as possible to facilitate the occupational disease diagnosis and identification of patients. In the next step, on the basis of full investigation and demonstration, we will further actively promote the revision of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases with relevant departments, and further effectively promote the facilitation of occupational disease diagnosis and identification.