Coal miners get help for occupational lung disease

A Chinese non-profit foundation has helped 125,500 patients suffering from pneumoconiosis, an occupational lung disease, said an official on Thursday.

The patients have been treated in 41 hospitals appointed by the China Coal Miner Pneumoconiosis Prevention and Treatment Foundation which was set up in November 2004, said Huang Yi, spokesman of the State Administration of Work Safety.

The foundation has received 169 million yuan (27.7 million US dollars) in donations and spent 114 million yuan on treatment, he said.

China recorded 23,152 new pneumoconiosis cases in 2013, a drop of 1,054 from the previous year, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said in June, 2014.

Pneumoconiosis is a disease of the lungs caused by the inhalation of large amounts of dust or particulate matter.