Nearly 80 percent of foreign companies refuse to employ hepatitis B carriers, according to a recent survey.

About 96 percent of the companies surveyed require job applicants to take a hepatitis B test, according to the survey conducted by Chinese Foundation for Hepatitis Prevention and Control (CFHPC).

About 77 percent of branches of foreign companies or joint ventures on the Chinese mainland clearly state they will not employ hepatitis B carriers. The companies include multinationals such as Motorola, Siemens, Philip, Foxconn, Sony and Samsung, according to the survey released on Tuesday.

CFHPC surveyed human resources departments of 98 multinational companies' 115 branches or joint ventures in 11 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou.

The survey found the foreign companies refuse to employ hepatitis B carriers mainly because they fear the carriers will pass the hepatitis B virus to other healthy employees.

The survey also found that the companies surveyed do not require foreign applicants to take a hepatitis B test in their own countries.

Most of the companies say they have a non-discrimination policy toward people with health problems on their websites, but there are no related supervision regulations in their branches in China, according to CFHPC.

In the meantime, China has not a complete law or regulation to protect hepatitis B carriers' rights to take jobs, according to CFHPC.

The CFHPC did not survey Chinese corporations to determine their hiring policies relating to hepatitis B carriers.

In late May a senior Ministry of Labour official called for a public awareness campaign in China as many of the country's 120 million hepatitis carriers complained they faced social and work place discrimination.

"Many people believe they can be easily infected by carriers," said Yu Faming, an official responsible for employment and training with the ministry.

"In fact, common daily contact with hepatitis carriers like having dinner or talking is safe, but a lot of people just don't know that," said Yu, adding it usually requires an exchange of bodily fluids with a carrier to become infected.

The ministry also warned employers nationwide against discriminating against hepatitis carriers on its website, www.molss.gov.cn.

Employers are prohibited from rejecting job applicants or dismissing employees who are hepatitis B carriers.