Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2002, published 91st ILC session (2003)

Nursing Personnel Convention, 1977 (No. 149) - United Republic of Tanzania (Ratification: 1983)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

Article 1, paragraph 3, of the Convention. The Committee notes from the Government’s report that conditions have been established for the registration of nursing personnel who give care on a voluntary basis (such as: (i) having followed a course that is recognized by the Nurses’ and Midwives’ Council; (ii) producing written documents which show the type of organization or hospital where the nursing care is to be given; (iii) benefiting from authorization to stay at least six months in the country; (iv) paying the registration fee). The Committee hopes that the Government will adopt special provisions to formalize the above conditions in accordance with the requirements of the Convention (training appropriate to the exercise of their functions, Article 2, paragraph 2(a); occupational health and safety measures applicable to voluntary nursing personnel, Article 7).

Article 2, paragraph 2(b). The Committee notes that there are no specific legislative provisions or regulations respecting nursing personnel in the private sector, which in most cases is governed by the provisions relating to working conditions in the public sector. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply copies of collective agreements applicable to nursing personnel in the private sector in continental Tanzania and Zanzibar.

Article 2, paragraph 3 read in conjunction with Article 5, paragraph 1. The Committee notes that policy in respect of nursing services has been determined unilaterally and without consultation by the Ministry of Health. However, the Government adds that the Ministry of Health is prepared to collaborate in this respect with the Ministry of Labour. The Committee hopes that this consultation will also be extended to the trade union organizations concerned, in accordance with this provision of the Convention. It requests the Government to provide information on the outcome of these consultations in the public sector, as well as of any consultations organized with nursing personnel in the private sector.

Article 6. The Committee notes Act No. 9 of 1986 respecting nursing personnel in Zanzibar. It requests the Government to supply a copy of any legislative provision or regulation applicable to nursing personnel in continental Tanzania.

Article 7. The Committee notes that there are no occupational health and safety measures specifically applicable to nursing personnel in continental Tanzania. It requests the Government to indicate the measures which have been taken or are envisaged to improve existing laws and regulations on occupational health and safety by adapting them to the special nature of nursing work and of the environment in which it is carried out. Furthermore, with reference to its general observation of 1990, which was repeated in 1994, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures which have been taken or are envisaged, in consultation with the employers’ and workers’ organizations concerned, to take into account in continental Tanzania the particular risk of accidental exposure to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among nursing personnel: for example, through the arrangement of working conditions, confidentiality of test results, recognition that the cause of infection was occupational, etc.

Part V of the report form. The Committee notes the statistics supplied by the Government in its last report. It hopes that the Government will continue to supply statistics concerning the number of nursing personnel in relation to the population of Zanzibar, and that it will supply data on the number of persons leaving the profession. Please also report any difficulties encountered in practice in the implementation of the Convention.