Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2000, published 89th ILC session (2001)

The Committee notes the Government’s report and the additional information provided.

In response to the Committee’s previous comments, the Government confirms that the Social Protection Body (OPS), created in 1997, is responsible for covering medical benefits, but cash benefits remain the responsibility of the employer. The sickness insurance scheme is to be re-examined in the light of the Convention in the context of the review of the labour legislation which the Government plans to undertake with assistance from the Office. The Committee notes this information. It recalls that the sickness benefits payable under Article 3 of the Convention, read in conjunction with Article 1, to an insured person unable to work by reason of the abnormal state of his bodily or mental health, must be financed from a system of compulsory sickness insurance and shall not be borne directly by the employer. In these circumstances, it hopes that the Government will be able to take the necessary measures to ensure that sickness benefit can be paid to all workers covered by the Convention as part of a sickness insurance scheme, in accordance with the provisions of the Convention. The Committee asks the Government to provide a copy of any legislation adopted to this effect and of any texts regulating the provision of medical benefits by the OPS in the event of illness of insured persons, in accordance with Article 4 of the Convention.