"The European community is currently experiencing an aging society where the opportunities for nurses and caregivers are very large," the head of BRIN's Population Research Center, Nawawi, said during a discussion on Tuesday.
According to him, the aging society phenomenon is an opportunity for workers in the health sector since Europe is unable to meet its need for health workers due to population aging.
Thus, this phenomenon could be beneficial for Indonesian migrant workers. Besides the opportunity to work abroad, they will also get guaranteed security and legal certainty when working in Europe, Nawawi added.
"This is different from several other destination countries. We often hear cases of violations of the rights and obligations of our migrant workers, resulting in legal problems. In Europe, the possibility of this problem occurring is less than in other countries," he explained.
He said that European countries are known as immigrant destinations. Their local residents are used to communicating with immigrants from other countries.
Further, the surplus of nurses in Indonesia is one of the considerations for encouraging health workers to pursue work opportunities abroad, including in Europe, he added. Data from the Ministry of Health in 2021 recorded the surplus of 176,470 nursing staff.
In addition, Nawawi said, the effort has also received official support from the government.
In 2021, the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI) collaborated with the German Bundesagentur fuer Arbeit (BA) regarding the placement and protection of Indonesian health workers in Germany, he expounded.
"Through several collaborations, opportunities to work abroad are very wide," he added.
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Translator: Sean Filo M, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Arie Novarina
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