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The Committee notes 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:

The Committee notes the information supplied in the Government's report in reply to its previous comments. It asks the Government to provide information on the following points.

Article 1, paragraph 3, of the Convention. The Committee asks the Government to provide information concerning the regulations governing nursing personnel working in association with the Guinean Red Cross Society and the nursing personnel employed in national projects of the High Commissioner for Refugees. It also asks the Government to provide a copy of Decree No. 93/043/PRG/SGG of 26 March 1993 to establish general regimes for hospitals, referred to in the last report. Please also provide, as soon as they are adopted, a copy of the general regulations for medical and paramedical staff, currently being prepared.

Article 2, paragraph 1. In the absence of any new provisions on the nursing services and personnel policy in Guinea, the Committee asks the Government to provide all other useful information on the subject, particularly recent statistical data of the number of persons entering the profession and the adaptation and distribution of nursing personnel in the urban and rural areas of the country.

Article 2, paragraph 2(a), and Article 3. The Committee notes the information in the report that state training policy is the responsibility of the Ministry of National Education and is supported by the training plan drawn up by the "Hospital Medicine" Division of the Department of Health and Social Affairs. It hopes that the Government will provide a copy of any legislative or regulatory provisions governing state policy in this area, and of the relevant training plan.

Article 2, paragraph 2(b). The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government concerning remuneration of nursing personnel and the budgetary measures of July 1993 applying to hospitals. It again asks the Government to provide a copy of the relevant provisions of laws and collective agreements.

Article 6(a), (b) and (d). According to the Government's report, nursing personnel are covered by the general laws and regulations governing hours of work, weekly rest and educational leave. Please indicate exactly which provisions of laws and regulations govern nursing personnel in these areas and state to what extent these provisions apply to nursing personnel in the public and/or private sector. (Please send with the next report a copy of the texts establishing the above entitlements.)

Article 7. In its report, the Government repeats the statement it has been making since 1986 to the effect that there are to be new measures to improve legislation on occupational health and safety. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on progress made in this area. Furthermore, referring 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, acknowledgement that the cause of the infection is occupational, etc.