In the wake of reporting delays and the underreporting of occupational injuries and diseases hindering employee welfare, the Labour Ministry is holding discussions with the Health Ministry to establish a system to make the process efficient.  

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (5), Labour Ministry Secretary S.M. Piyatissa said that there is a delay of and underreporting of occupational injuries and occupational diseases in the country and consequently, the Labour Ministry and the Health Ministry are holding discussions on bringing in amendments to the legal provisions and to establish a more efficient system to receive data.  

"According to the prevailing law, it is a must to report if an employee is suffering from any occupational injury or a disease that would prevent them from reporting to work for more than three days. But still, occupational diseases are almost unreported and occupational injuries are underreported. It is when an issue with the compensation process arises that these matters come to the light," he said.  

He added that every doctor cannot identify these occupational diseases and that there are specialised doctors for that. He also added that it is not practical to establish a digitalised system to enter the data since the doctors might find it difficult to adapt.  

He said that as being suggested by the Secretary to the Health Ministry, Dr. Anil Jasinghe, it will be plausible to implement a system to extract this data from the bed cards of patients at hospitals. And also, he added that amendments to the laws to provide power and provisions for the Public Health Inspectors to interrogate into these unsafe work places and take necessary actions will also be considered.