Social insurance expanded and rules for domestics reviewed

Input into regulation of domestic workers sought

The Ministry of Commerce and the National Health Commission are seeking public comment on a draft to regulate physical checkups for domestic workers.

The draft specifies the kinds of health conditions that prohibit people offering domestic services. They include serious cardiopulmonary disease, drug abuse, infectious tuberculosis and a history of mental illness.

It divides domestic services into four categories according to whether workers have direct contact with food and their customers, as well as the kind of people they are taking care of, and establishes four different sets of health requirements.

Those who take care of pregnant women, new mothers or infants are subjected to the strictest standards.

Companies offering domestic services are required to have their workers take physical checkups on a regular basis to see if they meet the health requirements, the draft says.

It also encourages hospitals to share test results on an online platform managed by the Ministry of Commerce, where consumers and domestic services companies can review the results with the consent of the workers.