Lack of Specialist Doctors, Government Encourages Ease of Further Education

The government is encouraging easy access to specialist education for doctors.

KOMPAS/NINA SUSILO

President Joko Widodo accompanied by Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin (not visible), Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung (second from the right), and Acting Governor of Banten Al Muktabar opened the National Health Coordination Meeting of 2024 in the BSD area, Tangerang Regency, Banten on Wednesday (24/4/2024).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - Indonesia still has several major tasks to build a good healthcare service. The health service facilities for non-communicable diseases and their specialist doctors are still inadequate.

This was expressed by President Joko Widodo when opening the 2024 National Health Working Meeting (Rakerkesnas) in the BSD area, Tangerang Regency, Banten, Wednesday (24/4/2024). Also present at this event were Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, and Minister for Empowerment of State Apparatus and Bureaucratic Reform Azwar Anas.

During the event, the Head of State mentioned that the number of deaths due to stroke reached 333,000 annually. The number of deaths due to heart disease is recorded at 296,000 per year, and cancer at 297,000 per year.

Therefore, medical equipment related to these diseases began to be sent to community health centers and hospitals in the regions. Equipment for ultrasound and EKG were distributed to community health centers, while CT scans, mammograms and cath labs were provided to hospitals.

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KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Staff members from the radiology department at Harapan Kita Heart Hospital, Jakarta, prepare for the patient examination process using the new multislice computerized tomography (MSCT) tool, Thursday (19/1/2023).

The President's monitoring during his working visit to the regions found that there were hospitals ready with various health equipment, rooms and human resources. However, there are also hospitals that are not ready, either because the rooms are not supported or because they do not have specialist doctors.

"The biggest problem we have is the shortage of doctors, especially specialists. The fact that our doctor-to-patient ratio is still at 0.47, ranking 147th in the world, is what we will strive to improve," stated the President in his address at the National Health Conference.

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Indeed, our biggest problem is not enough doctors, not enough specialist doctors.

KOMPAS/NINA SUSILO

President Joko Widodo opened the 2024 National Health Coordination Meeting in the BSD area, Tangerang Regency, Banten, Wednesday (24/4/2024).

In the midst of a shortage of specialist doctors, the results of the mental health screening or screening of participants in the specialist doctor education program (PPDS) carried out by the Ministry of Health in 28 vertical hospitals on 21 , 22, and 24 March 2024 showed that 22.4 percent of PPDS participants experienced symptoms of depression.

Of that number, 0.6 percent experienced symptoms of severe depression, 1.5 percent experienced symptoms of moderate-severe depression, and 16.3 percent experienced symptoms of mild depression. During screening it was also found that 3.3 percent felt like ending their life or hurting themselves in any way in the last two weeks (Kompas, 15/4/2024).

Also read: Recognize the Symptoms, Depression in Potential Doctors Can Be Avoided

Depression is caused, among other things, by bullying by seniors in PPDS. Resident doctors often receive verbal abuse and harsh words from seniors when they don't answer the phone or are late responding to short messages via the Whatsapp application for more than a minute. There are also seniors who give physical punishment to their juniors, in the form of push ups, throwing hard objects, slapping, hitting and kicking.

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin also called for immediate action, especially for those experiencing severe depression symptoms. The exact cause of depression symptoms must be identified accurately.

President Jokowi himself did not answer when asked about the phenomenon of many PPDS participants experiencing symptoms of depression. The President only answered that the revised Health Law was prepared to make it easier for general practitioners to continue their studies to become specialist doctors.

”Open as wide a university as possible (for PPDS). Of course, still with a qualification, with good screening, so what? "Our educational institutions, both universities and designated hospitals, can really produce as many doctors and specialist doctors as possible because what I see in the field is that many hospitals do not have certain specialists," said the President in an interview session after opening the meeting. National Health Coordination Meeting.

Also read: Emergency Conditions in Specialist Medical Education

One of them, when visiting the Kondosapata Regional Hospital in Mamasa Regency the day before, the President found that there was still a shortage of specialist doctors. Likewise, the space in regional hospitals is still inadequate when it comes to providing equipment such as CT scans, mammograms and cath labs.

KOMPAS/ISMAIL ZAKARIA

The village nutrition officer from Puskesmas Gerung, West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, measured the weight of toddler children in the Family Integrated Service Post activity in Peseng Hamlet, Taman Ayu Village, on Wednesday (13/12/2023).

Another task in the transformation of healthcare in Indonesia, according to the President, is to lower the rate of stunting or chronic malnutrition which causes stunted growth.

President Jokowi targets that the tengkes figure can be reduced to 14 percent in 2024 from 37.6 percent in 2014. However, until the end of 2023, the tengkes figure will only be able to remain at 21.5 percent. "I did the calculations and it turned out that it wasn't easy, but I didn't know that this year it could reach 14 percent," said the President.

Also read: The Vice President Encourages Duplication of Successful Innovations in Reducing Tengkes

In an interview session, the President also mentioned that a decrease of up to 21% is a significant leap and requires hard work. He acknowledged that the target of 14% is very ambitious, although it is necessary to encourage hard work.

KOMPAS/NINA SUSILO

President Joko Widodo provided a statement to journalists after opening the National Health Coordination Meeting for the year 2024 in the BSD area, Tangerang Regency, Banten on Wednesday (24/4/2024).

Health master plan

In addition, the President said that to overcome the problem of stunting, integration is needed, such as improving access to clean water, regulating early marriage, improving the economy of the community, sanitation, and the environment. All of these aspects need to be orchestrated and integrated from various ministries/institutions because reducing stunting rates is not an easy task.

"So that everyone can connect to the regions. Don't let the central (government) go north, and the regional (government) go south. "That's what I have to emphasize, everything must be inline, one straight line, so that there will be concrete results from our health development," said the President.

The health master plan is planned to be completed this August. This master plan will serve as a guide for Indonesia's health transformation.

Also read: Ensure Clarity of Achievement Indicators in the Health Master Plan

The issue of air pollution is not new. The condition of society threatened by air pollution has been ongoing for some time. There is also no shortage of research evidence indicating the threats posed by the impacts of air pollution. However, in reality, this has not been able to push significant efforts in controlling air pollution. As a result, residents are increasingly suffering and living amidst air pollution. The president has also asked for coordinated efforts among central and regional governments as well as local hospitals in transforming healthcare in Indonesia. The hope is that the demographic bonus that Indonesia will enjoy in the 2030s will help free the country from the middle-income trap.

KOMPAS/NINA SUSILO

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin delivered a report at the opening of the 2024 National Health Coordination Meeting in the BSD area, Tangerang Regency, Banten, on Wednesday (24/4/2024).

Regarding this matter, Budi Gunadi stated in his report that Indonesia's future health policy is to make the community healthy, not just to cure the sick. This is because in order to get intelligent quality human resources, healthy individuals are needed first and this starts from the baby in the womb.

"My friends have never seen our President being admitted to the hospital. This means that the President is taking good care of his health," he said to the participants of the National Coordination Meeting for Health, consisting of regional health department heads, regional development planning agency heads, and regional hospital directors.

In addition, according to Budi, learning from the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, everything must be done together. The approach is not a program approach, but a movement approach.