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Health risks hovering over stone crushers
2008-02-17 10:03:45
By Our Reporter
A medical doctor at the Mama Ngoma Health Centre in Mwenge Dar es Salaam, Dr Hussein Mtiro, has expressed concern over the health risks that women stone crushers were exposed to during their work.
``Due to the nature of the job, dust-related diseases are likely to be inflicted on the women. Such health problems include coughing and many other respiratory complications,`` said Dr Mtiro said.
He said the health situation is even worse for the young women lifting heavy stones and crushing them on a daily basis saying they are risking dislocation of their backbones and pelvic girdles.
He said such ailments might pose problem during child-birth.
The medic however said the risks are not as big for the middle-aged women who have passed the child bearing period, ``but the old women are risking their lives in case of accidents as they cannot quickly escape during situations like landslides in the quarries.
The medical doctor also said since stone crushers don`t use protective gear like eye glasses, they are very much at risk as flying pebbles could puncture their eyes.
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