Sverdlovsk Region Government considered a set of measures meant for improving the medical supervision of the region’s workers in 2004-2015. According to Health Minister Mikhail Sklyar, 311,316 people who operate in harmful and dangerous working conditions were examined last year; 2,044 people were diagnosed with professional illnesses. 8,844 people with different kinds of illnesses (including nearly 3,000 women) had to undergo regular checkups in health centers, with the patients being about 53 years old on average.

At the end of the session, Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Viktor Koksharov said that not all the cities in the region were paying enough attention to workers’ health. The region needs an effective interdepartmental cooperation mechanism in order to make sure workers who have to perform in dangerous working conditions can have checkups on regular basis, he said. Mr. Koksharov also commented on the need for faster certification of workplaces and suggested that the Federation of Trade Unions and the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers should make more efforts in the area.