It is indeed alarming that as many as 20% of the nearly 5,000 low-income Asian expatriate workers, who underwent medical check-up at a free camp last Friday in Doha, were diagnosed with high blood pressure.

Stress and unhealthy eating habits were cited as the major reasons for the high incidence of high blood pressure among the workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Bangladesh.

The second most common disease among the workers was diabetes. The high incidence of the both the diseases has been attributed to stress related to work as well as that of living alone, and also due to the unhealthy food habits practised by most of them.

The other common diseases diagnosed at the camp were ulcer, gas trouble, and kidney stone. Many also suffer from occupational diseases such as asthma and back pain.

“The workers need to be educated on many aspects of their health as many of them do not care about their health,” a physician who participated in the camp said while pointing out that many patients avoid visiting the doctors even when they are sick and carry on with these diseases.

“Some of them visit hospitals only when they go on vacation. All these can be avoided if they are given proper health education and make use of the excellent facilities provided by Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar,” he said.

Another physician at the camp pointed out that an awareness campaign must be launched among the workers to educate them on various lifestyle diseases.

There are many campaigns in the country to promote healthy lifestyle. But many of these do not reach the ordinary workers. There must be campaigns specifically for the low income group workers to make them aware of the need to promote healthy lifestyle.

The campaigns can be organised by the employers, who should take an active interest in the wellbeing of their employees. It may not be practical for workers to go on long walks after a tough day’s work. So, companies should provide exercise equipment at labour camps and encourage workers to utilise them.

Due to the nature of their work, a majority of labourers are unable to follow a healthy diet. There are companies which provide nutritious meals - from centralised kitchens or from specialised catering contractors - to their workers at worksites, but their numbers are very few.

There should be a central initiative from the government to ensure that low-income workers have access to a healthy and balanced diet. Such a step would go a long way to combat lifestyle diseases prevalent among workers. After all, a healthy workforce is one of the most important components of any nation’s assets. Given the massive quantum of projects being undertaken in Qatar, it is high time that the authorities concerned devote adequate attention to develop and retain a healthy workforce.