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

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 2, paragraph 2, of the Convention. Employment and working conditions of nursing personnel. The Committee notes the Government’s statement in its last report that nursing personnel in the public sector have now a different scheme of service from other civil servants and that they are entitled due to the nature of their work to a uniform allowance, a risk allowance and a responsibility/administrative allowance. The Committee requests the Government to communicate in its next report supplementary information on the new conditions of service of nurses in government service and to forward copies of all relevant texts. In addition, the Committee wishes to receive the Government’s views as regards the remuneration levels practised in the health sector in the light of reported strike movements of nurses over low pay and, in some cases, unpaid wages.

Article 5, paragraph 2. Determination of conditions of employment and work by negotiation. With reference to the various memoranda of agreement annexed to the Government’s previous report, most of which were concluded in 1999 for a two-year period, the Committee would be grateful to the Government for supplying copies of all collective agreements in force determining the conditions of work of health-care personnel in the private sector.

Article 7. Occupational health and safety. Further to its previous comment on this point, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) has drawn up a Code of Conduct on HIV/AIDS in the workplace which covers all its members, including those employing nursing personnel. The Committee asks the Government to provide a copy of this Code of Conduct. It also notes that, according to the Government’s last report, the Ministry of Health, in consultation with the Nursing Council of Kenya, was in the process of formulating rules to supplement the existing infection prevention and control guidelines. The Committee requests the Government to transmit the text of these rules once they are issued and to keep the Office informed of any further measures or initiatives aiming at minimizing the risk of HIV infection for health‑care providers. Bearing in mind that HIV-positive persons are estimated to occupy up to 40 per cent of beds in most hospitals, the Committee considers that sustained efforts are necessary to effectively contain the risk of patient-to-nursing staff HIV transmission.

Part V of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee notes that according to the statistics provided by the Government in its last report, there are 40,000 nurses, of whom 18,200 are employed in public medical institutions accounting for 34 per cent of the total Ministry of Health workforce. The Committee understands that a National Nursing Workforce Analysis project, scheduled to be completed in 2005, is currently under way with a view to computerizing and analysing existing supply and demand data on the nursing workforce and student nurses. The Committee would be grateful if the Government could continue supplying information on the application of the Convention in practice, including for instance statistics on the nurse-to-population ratio, the number of students attending nursing schools and the number of nurses leaving or joining the profession, copies of official reports or research studies examining the employment and working conditions of nursing personnel, as well as any practical difficulties encountered in the implementation of the Convention.

Moreover, the Committee understands that Kenya is facing a problem of brain drain in the health sector. According to the information available to the Committee, between 2001 and 2006, more than 3,000 nurses left the country to work in countries offering substantially higher salaries and a number of them had to pay for this purpose fees equal to ten months’ wages to private employment agencies. The Committee asks the Government to provide information regarding measures taken concerning, in particular, the plan for the improvement of working conditions of nursing personnel, including remuneration, in order to fight against the problem of brain drain.