Dec.22 - In-home nurses working in Beijing will now be informed beforehand of whether or not they will need to share a bedroom with their male patients.

 

The Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce and Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce included the new notification requirement in the new work contract drafted for the city’s in-home service industry.

 

Before the new contract was released on Wednesday, some city governments held public hearings on the special clause to protect in-home nurses from the possibility of sexual harassment.

 

But China News Service reports there are still some who maintain it is more convenient for a nurse to live in the same room as the old man she is assigned to take care of.

 

Under the new contract, nurses also have the right to know in advance whether their patient suffers from a contagious deadly disease or whether there is a history of mental illness within her employer’s family.

 

The work contract stresses that employers should give their in-home nurse four days off every month.

 

Statistics show as of August this year, Beijing had nearly 3,000 in-home service companies and over 200,000 people employed as nurses. More than half of these in-home nurses work full-time and live in their employer's home.