“Can is also dead! Now there are only two people left, me and I,” was the message that Truong Van Tau (living in Huong village, Chau Hong commune, Quy Hop district) sent to me one day in early July. The message left me shocked, because just a few days ago, to do this series of articles, Can was one of the people I visited and talked to.
Ha Van Can (33 years old), and Mr. Tau, both former workers of Ha An Company Limited in Chau Hong Commune, were diagnosed with silicosis only a few years ago. When we arrived at Huong Village, Mr. Can was still quite conscious, although he could not walk. He had to rely on his 64-year-old mother for all his personal activities. From being the breadwinner of the family, in just a moment, he became a burden to his mother. All the property in the house was also gone after his hospitalizations.
“More than a month ago, I could still walk around the house, but only about 10 meters. Now I am bedridden. Many times when I see my child complaining of difficulty breathing and coughing, I can only cry, because we don’t have money to take him to the hospital. We can only wait,” Can’s mother, Vi Thi Nguyet, said with sobs when we arrived at her house. Because of her family’s difficult circumstances, even though she is old, Can has not yet had time to get married.
His father died early, leaving only his mother and son to depend on each other. Since childhood, Can had to go out to earn a living. Like most other people in Huong village, Can went up the mountain to collect tin ore to sell for money. In 2014, Can applied to work as a worker at Ha An Company Limited. This is a company that mines tin ore on the mountain near Can's Huong village. His job is to drill for tin ore. Although he works hard all day in the tin mine, he only earns about 150,000 VND/day. "Every time I drill like that, the dust from the drill bit goes straight into my face. But at that time, I didn't think it would be as serious as this," Can said when we visited him when he was still alive.
Having worked as a tin ore driller for more than 6 years, in 2020, Ha Van Can began to feel chest tightness, coughing, and difficulty breathing continuously. His health rapidly declined, making him unable to hold the drill bit, so he asked his family to take him to the hospital for examination. “When I went to the hospital, I found out that he had severe silicosis and could no longer wash his lungs. The doctors said that this disease was caused by many years of working as a tin ore driller, inhaling too much dust,” Ms. Nguyet added. From a healthy young man weighing over 70kg, Can's health gradually declined, weighing less than 30kg.
The house of Mr. Truong Van Tau (40 years old) is only a few dozen meters from Ha Van Can's house. However, for the past few months, Mr. Tau has not been able to walk over to visit his colleague in the same situation. Mr. Tau said that, compared to others, he was quite lucky to have discovered the disease early and was able to wash his lungs. However, the silicosis has also seriously damaged his health, and he can only walk around the house. "Every time I walk more than 10 meters, I feel exhausted and have difficulty breathing. Since discovering the disease, I have lost more than 20kg," Mr. Tau said.
Mr. Tau applied to work for Ha An Company Limited in 2017. Like Mr. Can, Mr. Tau's job was to drill for tin ore in a mine deep under the mountain. "Normally, there is a lot of dust in the mine. But every time we drill for ore, it is terrible, the dust flies everywhere. Two workers drill next to each other but the dust makes it impossible to see each other's faces," Mr. Tau said. In early 2021, Mr. Tau discovered he was infected with Covid-19. When he went to the hospital for treatment, after being examined, it was discovered that he also had silicosis. After that, Mr. Tau quit his job.
“Luckily, I was infected with Covid-19 so I discovered my pneumoconiosis earlier. As for the others, when they discovered it, it was too serious. Now I regret thinking back, I was too subjective,” said Mr. Tau, adding that during work, the company also provided masks to prevent dust, but most workers did not wear them, not even cloth masks. “Actually, part of it was because I was subjective, I did not think the dust was this dangerous. Part of it was because working in the mine was very hard, wearing a mask or respirator made it very difficult to breathe, I could only work for a short while and had to take it off,” Mr. Tau added.
Despite working here for many years, Mr. Can, Mr. Tau and many others did not have labor contracts and did not have insurance. Therefore, after getting sick, they did not receive any support from the company or enjoy any benefits even though pneumoconiosis is listed as an occupational disease. During their work, the company did not organize regular health check-ups for them, so the disease could not be detected in time.
According to Mr. Truong Van Tau, in the Ha An Company Limited alone that he knows, in the past few years, 7 people have been diagnosed with pneumoconiosis, of which 4 have died. “All 7 people work as tin ore drillers, which is the department that receives the most dust. However, the number 7 people is only the cases in Chau Hong commune that we know. There may be many others who have also been affected, but they are in other localities so we don’t know,” said Mr. Tau.
Among the 7 people that Mr. Tau listed, there is also Mr. Vi Chien (38 years old). Mr. Chien also lives in Huong village, has been working as a drilling worker at Ha An Company Limited since 2013. By the end of 2019, due to the hard work and low salary, Mr. Chien quit his job to apply for labor export. "When I went for a health check to apply for a job abroad, I found out that I had silicosis. At that time, the disease was too severe, I could no longer wash my lungs," Mr. Chien said, adding that since then, he had to be hospitalized almost every month. At those times, he had difficulty breathing, had difficulty moving his arms and legs, and had to be carried by relatives to the hospital.
Speaking to Nghe An Newspaper reporters, a leader of Ha An Company Limited confirmed that some workers who used to work at the tin mine suffered from pneumoconiosis. “That was because mining was done manually in the past, so there was a lot of dust. About a year ago, we invested in modern machinery, which has somewhat reduced this situation,” he said.
Mr. Truong Van Hoa - Chairman of Chau Hong Commune People's Committee said that there are currently 11 mineral mining enterprises in the commune. "Regarding the issue of workers suffering from pneumoconiosis, we also know of some cases, but the authorities cannot grasp the specifics and do not have statistics. Because most of the workers work without labor contracts and do not pay insurance," Mr. Hoa said.
Just counting in one company’s production line, and also only counting workers living in Chau Hong commune, there were up to 7 people who suffered from severe pneumoconiosis in a short period of time. Meanwhile, in Quy Hop district, there are 80 mines exploiting minerals and a series of stone powder processing companies with tens of thousands of workers. We have contacted many agencies and units in Quy Hop district, but no unit has data on workers suffering from pneumoconiosis after working in high-risk environments like this.
