Trade union demands hospital for workers

Wahyuana, The Jakarta Post, Bekasi

Several workers' unions in Bekasi urged the government to establish a special hospital for workers where they can receive quality treatment and where insurance claims can be expedited.

Dwi Haryanto, deputy of Bekasi's All-Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI), revealed on Friday that the number of work-related accidents was high; reaching up to 564 cases per month.

"The health service provided by the state's Workers Social Protection Scheme (Jamsostek) is not enough," he remarked.

Jamsostek is working together with hospitals in Bekasi to establish a trauma center and special clinic for workers aimed at providing emergency care and to facilitate insurance claims.

However, according to Dwi, not all the health centers gave quality care for the workers as promised.

"We're are treated differently to other patients because we don't pay the hospitals in cash. When one of the workers died in an accident at the work place, his family could not get the insurance to pay the hospital expenses so they could bury the body immediately," he added.

Fajar Winarno, secretary of the Federation of Workers in the Electronics, Metal and Machinery Industries in Bekasi demanded that Jamsostek establish a special hospital and that the government should improve health services for workers.

"The red-tape to get our insurance claim paid is unbearable ... it can take months," he said.

Jamsostek marketing director Dadang Kusnadi revealed on Friday that the company has disbursed a total of Rp 4.48 billion (US$503,820) to pay insurance claims from workers in Bekasi since the beginning of this year.

"Half of it was paid for work-related accidents and work- related health problems," he said.

As an emerging industrial zone, Bekasi is home to at least 2,124 factories which employ a total of 350,000 workers. However, only 1,000 factories and 180,000 workers are registered with Jamsostek.

In line with a manpower ministry decree on workers' welfare, Bekasi Mayor Akhmad Zurfaih issued an order last Tuesday to all companies and factories to immediately register the workers with Jamsostek.

According to Dadang, Jamsostek has already established new schemes for informal workers such as public transport drivers, ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers, salespeople and home industry workers.