Honorary Health Care Workers Ask To Be Made A PPKK Like A Teacher

Thousands of health workers and non-health workers who work in the health facilities belonging to the Sukabumi Regency Government during a demonstration at the DPRD building asking for the appointment of staffing status from honorary to PPPK. Antara/Aditya Rohman

SUKABUMI- Worried that their status as temporary employees will be removed, thousands of health workers and non-health workers (nakes) in Sukabumi Regency, West Java, have asked the Sukabumi Regency Government to appoint them as Government Employees with an Employment Agreement (PPPK) such as honorary teachers.

"More than 80 percent of health workers and non-health workers who work in health service facilities belonging to the Sukabumi Regency Government are still temporary employees. We ask the Regency Government to appoint us as first aid workers, just like thousands of honorary teachers in Sukabumi Regency," said the Action Coordinator of the Honorary Communication Forum for the District Health Facilities. Sukabumi Saeful Anwar was reported by ANTARA, Friday, July 22.

The request is not only for improving welfare, but also because of concerns regarding the honorary status which will be removed in 2023.

According to Saeful, since the COVID-19 pandemic, not a few health workers have been involved or assigned to the front line in dealing with the deadly virus, such as providing care to patients who have been confirmed positive, and not even a few of them have died.

In addition, the honorary health facilities are the backbone of the health service in Sukabumi Regency, so it would be nice for the health workers who have the status of honorary employees to be appointed, at least to become first aid workers.

With the Government Regulation (PP) 49 of 2018 concerning the Management of First Aid, especially Article 99 paragraph 1, the existence of honorary workers is threatened with being abolished. Even after four years of the PP being made into law, the Sukabumi Regency Government has not taken any steps related to the policy of appointing honorary health workers, at least becoming a PPPK.

In the appointment of PPPK, the Sukabumi Regency Government does not have to appoint all of them immediately, but 500-600 people can pay it in installments every year, so that until 2023 there are not too many honorary health workers who have not had the opportunity to become PPPK.

"If the temporary employees are removed, then our status in the government-owned health facilities will be unclear. So we will continue to fight for the clarity of our fate," he added.

In Sukabumi District, the number of health workers and non-health workers who are members of the Sukabumi District Health Service Honorary Forum is around 30 thousand people and until now they are still working to improve the dignity and quality of public health.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Sukabumi Regency DPRD, Yudha Sukmagara, said that their arrival to the Sukabumi Regency DPRD building was a form of anxiety over their fate as honorary workers who were in danger of being removed.

Their presence is of course very important in providing quality health services, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, these health workers are involved at the forefront of handling COVID-19.

Of course, this is a concern for his party and will seek a solution with the Sukabumi Regency Government regarding the fate of their employment status, because the appointment to become PPPK the government must also provide a budget such as salary.

"They just need a status, because they are worried that temporary employees will be eliminated so they can't work even though they are the backbone of health services," he said.