VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - The Indonesian Migrant Worker Protection Agency (BP2MI) and Saudi Arabian Health Ministry's Deputyship of Human Resources have signed an agreement on the protection of Indonesian health workers.

The cooperation aims to increase protection for the Indonesian health workers in Saudi Arabia by establishing a safe and orderly recruitment and placement mechanism.

Secretary of BP2MI, Rinardi, said the government-to-government (G-to-G) program is the fourth cooperation arrangement carried out by the Indonesian government after earlier building relations with three other countries: Japan, Germany, and South Korea.

"This is an important milestone in creating better employment cooperation for Indonesia and Saudi Arabia in the health sector," he noted in Bali on Friday.

He said that the cooperation focuses on improving patient services and contributing to the welfare of Indonesian migrant workers, especially in the health sector.

In order to achieve the goal, the two parties agreed on several important points, firstly reaffirming their G-G joint commitment as the only mechanism recognized by the two governments for the placement and recruitment of Indonesian health workers in Saudi Arabia in two work sectors as agreed in the implementation arrangements.

"Secondly, commit to holding regular meetings to monitor and evaluate the implementation and discuss the problems faced by Indonesian health workers in Saudi Arabia, such as issues of job qualifications, working hours, prometric tests, and other matters that become a mutual concern," Rinardi remarked.

On the third point, both parties recognize the importance of work contracts as the legal basis for Indonesian health workers working in Saudi Arabia and are committed to involving related stakeholders in their respective countries for the implementation of this regulation, he remarked.

"This is not only a signing agreement but also an implementation of the agreement since both countries have mutual benefits. Saudi Arabia is able to have professional and quality health workers, while Indonesia has the benefit of placing our health workers in Saudi Arabia," he elaborated.

Meanwhile, Director General of Health Workers of the Indonesian Health Ministry, Arianti Anaya, stated that the G-G cooperation was able to produce professional nurses every year.

She noted that Saudi Arabia has a significant labor market to explore, with an annual demand reaching one thousand health workers.

"Saudi Arabia has requested around one thousand health workers to be placed in various hospitals in Saudi Arabia. We will fulfill this request," she stated.

She said that his ministry has 38 polytechnics that are ready to produce several nurses and are currently opening international classes for nurses to increase their competence in the international labor market.

"From the beginning, these prospective nurses have been accustomed to learning in the international class. We hope we can send them to the foreign labor market," Anaya remarked. (Antaranews)