Jamsostek to develop more trauma centers for workers

Jamsostek to develop more trauma centers for workers

The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru, Riau

State-owned insurance company PT Jamsostek is planning to help
set up more trauma centers in industrial zones across the country
to provide emergency medical treatment for workers.

Jamsostek president Achmad Djunaidi said that although there
were 24 trauma centers in the country, more were needed as the
number of work-related accidents was so high.

He said, while the existing centers had played an essential
role, seriously injured workers often had to wait for treatment,
which endangered their lives.

"Based on our experience in the field, the immediate provision
of medical aid in the first few hours following an accident
reduces the fatality rate by up to 85 percent," he said.

"Many workers are permanently paralyzed or die as a result of
delayed medical attention," he said during the inauguration of a
trauma center here on Friday.

The trauma center, officially inaugurated by Governor Rusli
Zainal, was set up by Jamsostek in cooperation with the local
administration and Pekanbaru General Hospital.

In 2003, there were 105,742 work-related accidents in the
country, resulting in 1,748 deaths. Of the total number of work-
related accidents in that year, 10 percent of those injured were
permanently handicapped.

"This means that for every working day of 2003, 43 workers
were permanently handicapped, and an average of seven workers
died," he said.

He regretted the fact that many employers had not yet realized
the importance of health and safety regulations in their
companies.

He cited, for example, that two workers had died in the fire
that razed chemical plant PT Petrowidada -- a unit of state-owned
PT Petrokimia in Gresik, East Java -- three weeks ago. Forty
others had suffered serious burns in the blaze.

He said the government needed to be active in reducing the
high number of accidents in the workplace.

"Law enforcement and the supervision of companies using
chemical and hazardous substance as their raw materials has been
weak because of the low awareness among regional administrations
of accidents in such industries," he said.