Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Health said that the main goal of bringing in foreign doctors to Indonesia is to enable the transfer of knowledge to their local counterparts, in addition to addressing the shortage of medical professionals.

The ministry's Director General for Health Services, Azhar Jaya, made the remarks on Tuesday in response to a question about mapping foreign doctors in Indonesia.

He said that such knowledge transfer is taking place in some hospitals for procedures such as heart or lung transplants, as Indonesia has never performed such procedures before.

As for sending foreign doctors to remote areas, he said that his administration will first look for any need or request made by regions.

If any region needs such medical professionals, the relevant office and hospital will need to contact the ministry, and the ministry will verify the data before sending the doctors, he explained.

"If foreign doctors are needed, what can we do? Because none of our people (want to go there). The point is, foreign doctors' issues are not like what is being blown out there," he said.

Moreover, those doctors can only operate for a maximum of two years, as per Law Number 17 of 2023 on Health, he added.

He said that the foreign doctors will be paid using the available budget, according to the set standards.

In response to a recent statement by the Indonesian Medical Association on appreciating local medical professionals more by ensuring better governance and offering better incentives, he said that his ministry will issue a policy on incentives as a follow-up.

Related news: Saudi doctors in Medan will not take over local work: Health Ministry
Related news: Foreign doctors to save 12 thousand babies with heart disease: govt