Ridwan Max Sijabat, Yogyakarta – Employers are not fulfilling their obligations under the laws on labor and social security to arrange for basic healthcare services for their employees and their families, state-owned workers insurance company PT Jamsostek said Wednesday.
"Many employers have ignored the 2003 Labor Law – which requires employers to have their workers undergo a general medical checkup annually – while others don't have a healthcare scheme because it keeps their labor costs down," Jamsostek's director of operations and services Anshori Achmad said in a meeting with seven associations of specialist doctors.
"Even worse, we have found that many companies in the chemical, construction and mining sectors do not equip their workers with safety equipment even though these sectors are prone to occupational accidents."
Anshori stressed a compulsory regular health checkup for workers was needed to monitor workers' health at the recruitment, employment and retirement stages.
"Aside from early detection, regular medical checkups are also important to identify the causes of the diseases workers are suffering from and to determine whether the treatments are covered by the social security programs," he said.
The Labor Law stipulates that workers have the right to have their health checked annually and to be protected under the social security programs. However, the 1992 Social Security Law, which requires Jamsostek to offer social security programs for workers, allows companies to arrange their own healthcare schemes if theirs are considered better than that offered by Jamsostek.
Anshori also said that many companies had opted not to use Jamsostek's healthcare scheme, which only covered 80-90 percent of their workers' medical bills.
"According to Government Regulation No. 14/1993 on technical guidelines for healthcare programs, workers are entitled to receive full health services in the second-class wards of public hospitals or the third-class wards of private hospitals. All medical costs must be borne by the employers or by Jamsostek," he said.
Sarjan Lubis, the head of Jamsostek's Central Java office, said most workers were not aware of their right to healthcare coverage.
"Most workers are not aware of their right to healthcare services during their employment and treatment for the diseases covered by Jamsostek's healthcare scheme.
"The scheme remains effective for two years after workers retire, resign or get laid-off by their employers."
Both Anshori and Sarjan also called on the government to review the small premium for the healthcare program to give workers maximum benefits and to cover certain diseases that have not been covered by the program.
"The ceiling for the premium is Rp 1 million (US$111) and employers have paid only Rp 30,000-60,000 per month per worker to the program and this rate is too small to cover the healthcare for both single workers and married ones. Besides, many modern diseases, including HIV/AIDS, have not been covered by the scheme," Anshori said.