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

Nursing Personnel Convention, 1977 (No. 149) - Bangladesh (Ratification: 1979)

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

Article 3, paragraph 1, of the Convention. The Committee notes that under section 19(2)(i) to (m) of the Bangladesh Nursing Council Ordinance of 1983, the above Council is responsible for issuing regulations on the basic requirements for the training and education of nursing personnel. However, the Committee has not yet received copies of the basic nursing syllabus and curriculum used by private nursing centres, nor copies of the training programme for State nurses. It hopes that the Government will provide these documents in the near future.

Article 6. The Government does not indicate whether there are any specific regulations on hours of work of nursing personnel in the public and private sectors, including compensation for overtime and inconvenient hours, as provided for in this Article of the Convention (paragraph (a)) and in the 1965 Shops and Establishments Act. Nor does the Government indicate whether the provisions of the law concerning paid annual leave (paragraph (c)), educational leave (paragraph d)), sick leave (paragraph (f)) and social security (paragraph (g)) are applied specifically to nursing personnel in the public and private sectors. The Committee again expresses the hope that the Government will provide specific information on the above points, together with a copy of the provisions guaranteeing the above-mentioned entitlements. Please also provide a copy of the provisions ensuring weekly rest for nursing personnel in the public and private sectors, as required in paragraph (b) of the present Article.

Article 7. The Committee asks the Government to indicate the measures taken or contemplated to improve the existing laws and regulations on occupational health and safety by adapting them to the special nature of nursing work and the environment in which it is carried out. Furthermore, with reference to its general observation of 1990, which it repeated in 1994, the Committee asks the Government to indicate the measures taken or contemplated, in consultation with the employers' and workers' organizations concerned, to take account of the particular risk of accidental exposure to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among nursing personnel: for example, adjustment of working conditions, confidentiality of test results, recognition that the cause of infection was occupational, etc.

Point V of the report form (read in conjunction with Article 2, paragraph 2). The Committee noted that the basic nursing syllabus is regularly adapted to developments in medical and nursing sciences and technology. It also noted that nursing personnel whose performance was excellent had access to international study scholarships. The Committee again asks the Government to keep it informed of progress made in contacts between the Directorate of Nursing Services and nurses employed in the private sector and to provide general information on how the Convention is applied in practice. It asks the Government to continue to provide statistical information on the number of nursing personnel in the public and the private sectors, in relation to the population and other people employed in the health sector, and the number of people leaving the profession.