Work-related illnesses higher than reported

Low health screening rates, flaws in employment system cause faulty data

China has charted more than 970,000 cases of occupational diseases since records began, but the actual number of employees affected by work-related illnesses is much higher, a senior health official said on Tuesday.

The underreported data is largely due to low rates of health screenings designed to detect conditions arising from workplace activities, as well as flaws in the country's employment system, said Wu Zongzhi, director of the National Health Commission's occupational health department.