S KOREA, JAPAN NEED OVER 1,100 CAREGIVERS FROM INDONESIA

Makassar, June 20 (ANTARA) - South Korea and Japan want to recruit at least 1,116 caregivers from Indonesia in the interest of their senior citizens, a local social services official said.

"Our workfoce must seize this opportunity. For this purpose, Makassar's Social Service Office (Dinsos) is carrying out an empowerment program for school-leavers and other children from economically-weak families," the head of Makassar's Dinsos, Ibrahim Saleh, said here on Friday.

He said there were actually many work opportunities abroad but Indonesian workers lacked the skills needed. The salaries offered were very attractive.

The payment of a caregiver in Japan and South Korea was about Rp6.7 million per month but the requirements among others were that would-be caregivers must not be older than 27 years and have experience in taking care of senior citizens, he said.

Meanwhile, Masaro Sato, a consul at the Japanese embassy in Jakarta said here Teusday the Japanese government needed 600 caregivers. Hundreds of Indonesian caregivers were scheduled to leave for Japan in July.

The caregivers would be trained for six months in Japan in a number of skills and the Japanese language.

Besides caregivers, a total of 400 Indonesian nurses will be sent to Japan next August under an economic agreement between Indonesia and Japan, Sato said.

Sato was in Makassar to attend a seminar at Hasanuddin University held as part of activities to observe the 50th anniversary of Indonesia-Japan diplomatic relations.

Sato said it would mark the first time for Japan to recruit nurses from Indonesia.

"We are giving priority to nurses from Indonesia rather than from the Philippines because Japan and Indonesia share many similarities such as cultural diversity," Sato said.

He also noted Indonesia and Japan had been cooperating with each other in various sectors for decades.

He said Japan needed professional nurses who had two years of experience. They would be employed at a number of Japanese hospitals.