Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1995, published 82nd ILC session (1995)

Nursing Personnel Convention, 1977 (No. 149) - Kenya (Ratification: 1990)

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in reply to its previous direct request.

Article 2, paragraph 2(b), and Article 5, paragraph 2. The Government's report states that nursing personnel in the public service are regulated by the conditions of service of health care personnel and that their conditions of work in the private sector are determined by collective bargaining which takes the conditions of the public sector as its guideline. Please supply copies of any legal provision or regulation, as well as of any collective agreement concerning health care personnel. Please also supply copies of collective agreements, other than the agreement covering the Aga Khan Hospital in Kisumu, which determine the conditions of work in the private sector.

Article 5, paragraph 3. According to the Government's report, the settlement of collective labour disputes in the private sector follows the procedure set out in the Trade Disputes Act, Cap. 234. The Committee requests the Government to supply information on the practical application of this procedure. It also requests the Government to state the manner in which the guarantees set out in the Convention, requiring disputes to be settled through negotiations or in such a manner as to ensure the confidence of the parties involved, through independent and impartial machinery, are given effect in the context of the above Trade Disputes Act.

Article 6(a), (d), (e) and (g). The Committee notes with interest that in the collective agreement supplied by the Government (respecting the Aga Khan Hospital, Kisumu) the provisions applicable to private sector personnel in respect of hours of work, educational leave, maternity leave and social security, are at least equivalent to those of other workers established under the Employment Act of 12 April 1976. It would be grateful if the Government would supply copies of other collective agreements applicable to nursing personnel in the private sector. With regard to the public sector, the Committee notes that the Code of Regulation for Civil Servants determines the conditions of work of nursing personnel in the public sector. It requests the Government to supply a copy of the above Code.

Article 7. The Committee notes the Government's statement that no measures have been taken to improve laws and regulations on occupational health to protect nursing personnel against accidental exposure to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The Committee hopes that in its next report the Government will be able to indicate the measures which have been taken, in consultation with the employers' and workers' organizations concerned, to take into account the specific risk of accidental exposure to HIV for nursing personnel, as well as the measures envisaged for nursing personnel who have been infected or are considered to have been infected by HIV (for example, by the arrangement of conditions of work, confidentiality of the results of examinations, recognition of the occupational nature of the disease, etc.).

Point V of the report form. The Committee notes with interest the information concerning the practical application of the Convention and the number of nursing personnel in relation to the population, as well as the negligible number of persons leaving the profession. It requests the Government to provide information on any developments in the situation.