BEIJING - The Chinese government has reiterated a strict ban on hepatitis B tests during pre-employment physical examinations as many companies reportedly violated rules to require hepatitis B tests for job applicants.

In a statement released Saturday, the Ministry of Health said that no health institutions are allowed to provide hepatitis B checks as part of pre-employment physical tests regardless of whether the examinees provide consent or not.

On February 10, 2010, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security jointly issued a circular demanding the cancellation of the hepatitis B tests during the health checks for school enrollment and employment nationwide.

However, according to a survey released this week, which was conducted by the non-profit Beijing Yirenping Center, some 61.1 percent of the 180 state-run companies surveyed included hepatitis B checks in their pre-employment physical examinations.

More surprisingly, 63 companies said that they would never consider hepatitis B carriers for a job or were reluctant to hire such people.

Yu Fangqiang, the principal of the Yirenping Center, said that such violations mainly resulted from light punishment for violations and some health institutions' desire for profits.

According to the survey, employers would only be fined between thousands to tens of thousands of yuan if they lose their lawsuits for bias against hepatitis B carriers.

Meanwhile, a worker will spend a lot of time, energy and money to file a lawsuit and collect evidence in order to win.

Liu Xiaonan, an associate professor with the China University of Political Science and Law, called on the government to hammer out a particular law and set up a special committee to investigate discrimination cases in order to ensure the rights of workers.

In the statement released Saturday, the health ministry also ordered a careful investigation of all cases of hepatitis B discrimination, and promised that violators would be exposed and punished in accordance with laws and regulations.

Medical tests show that hepatitis B virus can only be transmitted from mother to child during childbirth or by contact with the blood or other body fluids of an infected person.