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The Committee takes note of the detailed information provided by the Government in its report.

Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention. The Committee takes note with interest of the information according to which:

-- a national plan was elaborated to make available social and health services to all citizens and to ensure the continuity of social and nursing services by increasing the number of permanent jobs;

-- the framework for developing the social and health services will be reformed this year to be replaced by a four-year target and an action programme which defines the essential development objectives of the social and health care sector and its follow-up, the measures needed to achieve these objectives and the persons responsible for their implementation;

-- a long-term plan will be drawn up for emphasizing the status of the personnel and identifying measures to counteract the exhaustion of the employees in the social and health care sector, improving their expertise and ensuring employment;

-- labour market organizations should revise the basis for wages in the social and health care sector to encourage them to make a more efficient performance than at present;

-- a plan called Health Care for the 2000s action was initiated in 1998 to --among other objectives -- develop nursing services;

-- in accordance with the Act on Health Care Professionals, the Council of State has appointed a consultative committee for health service professionals to propose motions for the education and professional activity of health care professionals;

-- a personnel programme for the municipal social and health sector is under preparation at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health to improve the coping and expertise of the nursing personnel;

-- a document called The Trend of Nursing was published in 1997 to underline the fundamental role of nursing personnel;

-- the nursing occupations is one of the sectors covered by the Programme for Aging Workers (1998-2002) which attempts to improve working conditions.

The Committee requests the Government to report on any progress achieved in the development of the abovementioned programmes.

Article 4. The Committee takes note of the information of the Government in relation to the adoption of the Act concerning Health Care Professionals (559/1994) which promotes the recognition of conditions for vocational practice. The Committee requests the Government to supply a copy of the Act.

Article 6. The Government takes note of the information contained in the Government's report on the adoption of several Acts (e.g. the Working Hours Act (605/1996) and the Act to amend the Study Leave Act (58/1997)). The Committee requests the Government to supply further details on the provisions of these Acts related to each of the field of this Article of the Convention in relation to nursing personnel and to communicate copies of the relevant texts.

Article 7. The Committee takes note of the information of the Government according to which by virtue of the Council of State Decision (1409/1993) the Council Directive of 29 May 1990, 90/269/EEC on the minimum health and safety requirements for the manual handling of loads where there is a risk particularly of back injury to workers, has come into force on 1 January 1994. The Government informs that this directive also concerns nursing personnel who are exposed to the risk of back injuries when they lift or handle patients.

With reference to its general observation of 1990 which it repeated in 1994, the Committee notes the information that:

-- Work-related diseases transmitted by blood are recognized as occupational diseases in accordance with the Occupational Diseases Act (1343/1988).

-- The decision of the Council of State (1155/1993) on the protection of workers against hazard caused by biological factors provides for inspection visits by occupational health officers, instructions on working methods and personal protection, regular information services and, in the field of nursing, systematic registration of hazardous situations.

-- Employers' and workers' organizations, including professional health care organizations, and a number of hospital districts and health centres were consulted during the preparation of the above regulations.

-- No work-related HIV infections have been diagnosed in the country.

The Ministry of Social Affaires and Health published a guide on blood-transmitted diseases in occupational life in 1994 (updated in 1998) concerning prophylactics and measures following exposure. Physicians and nursing personnel of a hospital unit treating infectious diseases (including HIV/AIDS) were consulted before the final edition of the text. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on these issues and on the measures taken or contemplated with respect to nursing personnel who are infected or considered to be infected by HIV (e.g. adaptation of conditions of work, etc.).

Part V of the report form. The Committee takes note with interest of the tables attached to the report containing data on nursing personnel. The Committee notes the information that the number of unemployed in the nursing sector has remained more or less unchanged during 1994 to 1999, and that graduates from vocational nursing institutes have had difficulties in finding work in different parts of the country. The Committee notes that the social and health care personnel of the municipal sector, which decreased by 5 per cent during the early 1990s, started to increase during the last few years and decreased in 1998 to the same level it had at the beginning of the 1990s. Thus, the Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the variations of the number of nursing personnel leaving the profession.