Abu Dhabi: A survey conducted by the UAE Human Rights Association showed the majority of respondents oppose any form of discrimination against workers with cancer, a senior official said.

The survey is done as World Health Organisation (WHO) experts warn that cancer is heading towards becoming the world's top killer, overtaking heart diseases.

The poll of more than 1,000 white and blue collar workers from across the country showed that 77 per cent of respondents oppose sacking workers with cancer for no reason but their illness, Mariam Al Ahmadi, Chairperson of the Workers' Rights Committee at the association, told Gulf News.

Al Ahmadi added the poll, which was prompted by a spate of complaints from people who were diagnosed with breast cancer and fired for no reason but their illness, also found that 98 per cent support retaining workers with other terminal illnesses as long as they are capable of discharging their duties and these illnesses are not infectious.

Cancer will overtake heart disease as the world's top killer by 2010, part of a trend that should more than double global cancer cases and deaths by 2030, international health experts reported on Tuesday.

Al Ahmadi said all respondents held the government responsible for ensuring that workers with terminal illnesses be provided with health care and that work environment should be safe and secure in keeping with related health and safety conventions.

However, she said, only seven per cent of respondents agreed that women should be encouraged to undergo tests at work to find out whether they are suffering from cancer, even as confidentiality is maintained. "An overwhelming majority of 93 per cent opposed any such measure."

Mariam said the association had managed to reinstate a number of such workers, "but we will work hard to eliminate discrimination against people with terminal illnesses, especially breast cancer at this stage. Employers, service providers and education providers are often afraid of how to manage people's experience of, or recovery from, cancer," Mariam explained.

Target

Mohammad Al Hammadi, secretary general of the UAE Human Rights Association, said the move is intended to end discrimination against such people.

If workers have cancer or have had cancer, the UAE's Labour Law makes it unlawful for them to be discriminated against in employment, according to Ministry of Labour officials. "Temporary absence from work for examination or treatment of cancer is not a valid reason for ending the service of a worker with such an illness," said an official. "An employer can be sued for arbitrary dismissal if a worker with cancer is sacked because of his or her illness."

We willwork hardto eliminate discrimination against people with terminal illnesses."

Disease to claim 7m

Cancer diagnoses around the world have steadily been rising and are expected to hit 12 million this year. Global cancer deaths are expected to reach seven million, according to the new report by the World Health Organisation.

New cancer cases will likely mushroom to 27 million annually by 2030, with deaths hitting 17 million.

Oncologists are already reporting an increase of cancer cases in children and of prostate cancer in men in the UAE.

Statistics showed that there are more than 1,500 prostate cancer cases in the UAE alone, making it amongst the most commonly occurring cancer.

Breast, colon and rectum, leukemia, stomach, thyroid, lung, bladder, prostate and cervix uteri are among the top 10 cancers in the UAE.

Each year, breast cancer affects 1.1 million women and claims 400,000 lives, according to the Breast Cancer Fund, a California-based advocacy group.