Employees in low-profit and township enterprises had no access to occupational healthcare, and rural workers in urban cities faced high risks of occupational illness due to their high mobility, Li said.

The number of migrant workers is estimated at 120 million and the workforce in rural enterprises amounts to 80 million, according to a recent report by the State Council.

By the end of 2005, China recorded 665,043 cases of occupational illness, including 606,891 cases of pneumoconiosis, a chronic disease of the lungs resulting from long-term inhalation of dust and primarily affecting miners, sandblasters and metal grinders.

Nearly 10,000 new cases of pneumoconiosis emerged each year. On average, each pneumoconiosis patient suffered an annual financial loss of 34,100 yuan (4,300 U.S. dollars), said Li.

"Based on the current total of pneumoconiosis patients in China, which is 440,000, the annual direct economic loss caused by the illness would exceed 14 billion yuan, and it's increasing by 600 million yuan with new cases each year," he warned.

According to Vice Health Minister Chen Xiaohong, workers contracting pneumoconiosis are getting younger, with an average age of 40 and the youngest patient just 20 years old in 2005. The shortest period between first contact with dust and showing symptoms was less than three months.

Most occupational illness patients, including pneumoconiosis victims, have been rural and migrant workers in coal mines, township enterprises or other work in harmful and toxic conditions.

The Ministry of Health is conducting a nationwide survey of the 200 million rural and migrant workers, and has vowed to provide basic occupational health services for them.

It would also set up a pilot network to improve reporting and monitoring of illnesses as the existing system was incomplete, said Su Zhi, deputy head of the ministry's supervision division.

He also suggested health files to be set up at migrant workers' hometowns, to which they usually returned during the traditional new year period, so that their state of health could be monitored.

The ministry and the State Administration of Work Safety are to jointly improve monitoring of occupational disease control and educate employers on the law and social responsibility.

In April, the two departments and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions awarded 56 enterprises with the accolade "State model enterprise for occupational health", and they are expected to share and publicize their experience with other enterprises.