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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, January 27, 2004

Fund set up to sponsor treatment of pneumoconiosis

China has set up a special fund to finance the treatment of pneumoconiosis, a pulmonary disease caused by mine dust that claims 5,000 lives a year.


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China has set up a special fund to finance the treatment of pneumoconiosis, a pulmonary disease caused by mine dust that claims 5,000 lives a year.

The fund, approved and overseen by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, will sponsor lung therapy for pneumoconiosis sufferers from China's coal mining industry at the sanitarium for mine workers in Beidaihe, a seaside summer resort in the northern Hebei Province.

The State Administration of Coal-Mine Safety, sponsor of the sanitarium, has injected 3 million yuan (360,000 US dollars) as a startup fund to finance the treatment, which will be offered at half price to sick miners and free of charge to those from poverty-stricken areas.

The lavage treatment has proven effective in removing dust fromthe patient's lungs and restoring lung function. With this therapy,the Beidaihe sanitarium has cured more than 2,200 pneumoconiosis sufferers in China and nearly 100 patients from Russia and Vietnam.

Pneumoconiosis patients suffer from acute pains in the chest, abad cough and easily come down with a cold. The worst cases normally die of respiratory failure.

Statistics suggest the disease causes a direct economic loss of8 billion yuan (964 million US dollars) a year in China, and 40 percent of the cases are reported in the coal mining industry.

China has drafted a series of laws and regulations on workplacesafety, better environment and regular health checks to protect workers from occupational diseases.

Source: Xinhua


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