Voices from two sessions

"Due to biological differences, women in the workplace are more prone to stress from jobs and more emotional about pressure from the office. Employees should provide women with a more considerate working environment, for example perhaps a nursery or a yoga room, to help them release the pressure."

Wang Zhibiao, a CPPCC member and head of the National Engineering Research Center of Ultrasonic Medicine at Chongqing Medical University

"Female white-collar workers usually stay up late into the night, which poses dangers to their health, including endocrine disorders, sleep disorders, depression, anxiety and fatigue. Employers and work associations should provide more care to women at work and give them advice on their diet and daily schedule."

Wang Chengde, a CPPCC member and head of the Guang'anmen Hospital of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences

"Female employees should have the right to have their maternity leave extended to as long as three years, so that they can have enough time to look after their children till they get enrolled in kindergarten. I am glad to see that female professionals can retire at a later age, because they have gained rich experience by the time they are about 50 years old, and at that time their children have grown up, so they have more time to devote to work."

Zhang Lihui, member of the CPPCC National Committee and dean of the Conservatory of Music at Chongqing Normal University

"Some cities in China have already had a proportion of the expenses for medicine against cancers covered under medical insurance, which proves a big relief for a cancer patients. Government can cooperate with commercial companies to come up with critical illness insurance and with a serious illness insurance fund to help cover, maybe 70 percent, of patients' economic burden."

Tu Huilong, a CPPCC member and head of Haiya Group

"Chronic disease could be prevented through a healthy lifestyle, which could help reduce the mortality rate by 50 percent. Some 80 percent of the public consumes too much salt and oil, 88 percent do not exercise regularly and 30 percent of us are overweight. The government should also better promote public awareness of the hazards of chronic disease."

Dai Xiuying, a CPPCC member

"Most hospitals are open seven days a week and a doctor can work far more than 40 hours a week. A doctor can receive up to a hundred patients a day, at the end of which the doctor can become sick herself."

Wen Jianmin, orthopedics professor from the Wangjing Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences