Govt to establish hospitals for work-related accidents

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea met Riau Governor Rusli Zainal here on Tuesday to make the Petala Bumi Hospital into a special health center for workers.

The move was part of a plan to make five hospitals in the country special centers for work-related accidents.

Nuwa signed a similar agreement with Nursaha Delima, director of the Delima General Hospital in Medan, North Sumatra.

The three other hospitals are in Cirebon, West Java; Makassar, South Sulawesi; and Sorong, West Irian Jaya.

The minister said the workers' hospitals were in response to the low quality of medical services provided by state-owned PT Jamsostek for workers under existing healthcare programs.

"Most workers have been disappointed with Jamsostek's programs. Sick workers are required to go to public health centers with limited services and the treatment they receive in hospitals is also limited.

"Jamsostek's healthcare programs are not helpful," Nuwa Wea said.

He said the government had allocated Rp 10 billion from numerous sources, including Jamsostek, to buy the five hospitals' medical services for workers in the five provinces.

Nuwa Wea and Jamsostek have been at odds over the planned establishment of the workers' hospitals. Jamsostek had earlier opposed the minister's plan. It said it had no skills or experience in managing or monitoring hospitals and the establishment of special hospitals for workers was inefficient.

Meanwhile, Jamsostek president Achmad Junaidi confirmed on Wednesday Jamsostek had put aside a part of its profits in 2003 to help finance the hospitals.

"We decided to help the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry establish the five hospitals as part of its commitment to improve workers' social welfare and health conditions after gaining approval from the government," he said.

Junaidi said Jamsostek would not take part in managing the special hospitals because the company had no experience in managing them.