New national standards say that Hepatitis B (HBV) carriers in whom the disease has not manifested itself may still qualify for government jobs, the ministries of health and personnel announced.

Lawmakers have completed a draft on health qualifications for a recruitment drive, and the two ministries are soliciting public opinion on the draft from August 1 through August 31. So far, public opinion suggests that the rule, the first national one of its kind, means discriminatory hiring practices like this will start to be dismantled.

Under the Constitution, every person has an equal right to employment. There is no legal basis for any form of discrimination when it comes to working.

The World Health Organization reports that the prevalence of chronic HBV infection is high -- more than 8 percent -- in China. Some estimates put the figure at approximately 120 million, a number equivalent to the total population of France and Britain combined. Many show no symptoms and do not pose a threat to their coworkers.

But they are often discriminated against when it comes to education, employment, health care and many other aspects of life.

The hepatitis B virus is spread through the exchange of bodily fluids, such as contaminated blood, unprotected sex, shared needles and infected mother-to-baby contact. It cannot be contracted through casual contact.

"Carriers will not infect people if their liver function indices are normal," Dr. Ouyang Wuzhi, of the Nanjing No 2 Hospital in Jiangsu Province.

HBV carriers should be treated as normal people, according to Xu Diaozheng, a professor of epidemiology from the Peking University.

The newly drafted standards also state that people carrying the Hepatitis C virus, but whose liver functions are normal, are qualified to become public servants.

The draft does not address public servants' physical appearance, but said eyesight must meet a certain standard and may be corrected with glasses.

The draft listed 22 diseases that disqualify people from holding public posts. Severe heart disease and high blood pressure top the list.

In April last year, senior university student Zhou Yichao in east China's Zhejiang Province stabbed two officials, killing one, when he discovered that despite passing all examinations and interviews, he was not eligible for a civil service job because he was an HBV carrier. Zhou was later sentenced to death.

But Zhou's case prompted discussion of discriminatory hiring practices and the lack of legal redress.

Zhang Xianzhu, another graduate rejected by a state employer after testing positive later the same year, filed the country's first HBV discrimination lawsuit against the government of Wuhu, a city in east China's Anhui Province, in December.

The court backed Zhang's discrimination claim, yet inexplicably denied his request to order the government to find him a job.

Such cases have sparked heated debate in the media, and the local government revised its recruitment policy for civil servants this year.

(China Daily August 11, 2004)