Health tests and job requirements

In connection with the recent controversy over health requirements for presidential candidates, which were seen by some as a violation of human rights, allow me to recount my experience half a century ago.

When I enrolled in the school of pharmacy, Gajah Mada University, I was only subjected to physical and mental tests for studying to become a pharmacist.

Later, as a diagnostic clinic assistant I found two students who mostly failed in their lab test practice. They did well in titration (solution concentration) tests involving a color change from red to monochrome, but not in a change from blue to green.

As we shared the same dormitory, I knew how they described gray and pink shirts as having the same color. When I examined them with a test card, they turned out to be color-blind.

After I joined the Ministry of Health and was authorized to issue pharmacist practice licenses, I introduced the requirement that pharmacists must not be color-blind. Schools of pharmacy now apply this requirement to their candidates.

SUNARTO PRAWIROSUJANTO
Jakarta