Nurses unpaid for nine months

CIREBON, West Java: Dozens of nurses working in community health centers who have not been paid for the past nine months lodged a complaint with the West Java administration to demand their pay.

They flocked on Thursday to the Cirebon health office, West Java, to demand that it help them to obtain their payment.

The protesters told The Jakarta Post on Friday they felt were treated "unjustly" by the West Java administration as they have not been paid for nine months.

The protesting nurses mostly work for community health centers (Puskesmas) across Cirebon regency.

Sisca Lilyana Mulyadi, head of the Puskesmas in Sunyaragi village, Kesambi subdistrict, said there were at least 55 nurses employed in the city.

At least 43 of the nurses work in 20 health community centers, and 12 others in the Gunung Jati General Hospital in Cirebon, she added.

Based on a contract, the nurses are supposed to be paid Rp 300,000 each month.

"But since they started work in January, they have not received their salary," Sisca said.

It was not clear why the provincial government had not paid the salaries of the nurses. --JP