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.