Striking taxi drivers under a bridge in the suburbs of Hangzhou. (Photo : Reuters)
Shanghai's 80,000 male public transportation drivers would receive free health checkup. This initiative was launched after a recent survey established that at least 1 out of 50 drivers suffer from gallbladder, kidney as well as urinary-related issues.
Earlier this year, a survey was conducted by the Shanghai Construction and Transportation Workers' Union among taxi, bus, Metro, and ferry employees, mostly drivers. They found that this group of people suffers from "profession-related disease" because of their occupations.
As a result, the union worked with No. 411 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army to offer the drivers free health checkups. These checkups are especially done to check for drivers suffering from prostate diseases.
Drivers are particularly vulnerable to being diagnosed with prostate diseases because of the nature of their jobs. They cannot drink as much water as a normal person should, and they suppress their urges to go to the bathroom more because they cannot just leave their vehicles anywhere they feel the "urge."
A bus driver with the name Sun depicted this common ordeal among bus drivers:
"The best way to avoid going to toilet is to drink less water before a shift. It is almost impossible to stop in the middle of the journey. We just have to control the urge."
As a result, drivers are often diagnosed with calculus in the urinary system. The disease is particularly painful when it already sets in the driver's system. Once inflicted with the disease, the driver would find it difficult to function normally, affecting their judgment and abilities as drivers.
