(CRIENGLISH.com)
Updated: 2008-05-13 08:53

Nurses teach children the correct way to wash hands in a kindergarten in south China's Guangxi province on May 11, 2008. [Photo: Xinhua]

Nurses in China received a special gift from the government on Monday, also International Nurse Day, in the form of the nation's first statute of nurses.

"Thanks to the statute, there is finally a law to ensure our rights," a nurse working for the People's Hospital of Peking University told The Legal Mirror.

The Statute of Nurses, enacted by the State Council, came into effect on Monday becoming China's first ever law stating the rights and obligations of nurses.

"As of 2007, China had 1.54 million nurses," said Guo Yanhong, an official with the Department of Medical Administration in the Ministry of Health. "The statute aims to protect them in legislative aspects."

The new regulation is seen by nurses as a way to counter humiliation, threats and assaults, which used to be part of their "daily routine".

The statute calls on the society to respect nurses, threatening those who don't with punishments including jail terms.

Another issue bothering nurses and patients is the severe lack of qualified nurses.

Surveys conducted by the Ministry of Health show that 65 percent of nurses working in clinics have to work more than 10 hours per day, with one nurse having to take care of 10 to 14 inpatients.

Ministry of Health guidelines specify a nurse-sickbed ratio of 0.4:1, that is to say, every nurse should be in charge of 2.5 inpatients.

The statute stipulates the required ratio be implemented within three years.

According to the new act, nurses who are exposed to poisonous substances and infectious disease are entitled to government subsidies. Those who suffer injuries while working will also receive compensation.

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