Indonesia is hosting the first annual APIPEC from this Friday until Sunday (Oct 15), with attendees from several Asia-Pacific countries, such as Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, Nepal, and Bangladesh.
The APIPEC conferences opening event, which was held at the Best Western Premier Hotel Solo Baru, Sukoharjo, was inaugurated by vice joint chief or Health Service Dept Special Staff of the Ministry of Health Prof. Ahmat along with joint committee secretary or General Directorate Secretary of Science and Higher Education Resource Prof. John Henry and UNS Medical Facultys Dean Prof. Hartono.
According to IYHPS General Head Dr. Daniel Kambey, the APIPEC conference is a collaboration platform for practitioners, academics, and stakeholders in the health sector from various Asia-Pacific countries to share their ideas and experiences and inter-profession health practices.
According to Kambey, the first APIPEC will be a stepping stone to improve health education and practices in Indonesia. Moreover, he said the forum will boost the health education profession and the APIPEC Network.
He stated that looking at the strategic function of the forum, the joint committee, along with the Research, Technology, and Higher Education Ministry and Ministry of Health, supports APIPEC conferences by involving joint committee members, including the directors of various hospitals offering higher education.
Kambey expressed hope that inter-profession education would drive collaboration for the sharing of health practices between medical staff, such as doctors, dentists, nurses, nutritionists, and pharmacists, to offer better services to the people, with patient survival as the main priority.
"Through the collaboration, hopefully, it would lead to resource sharing that would boost health education and services," Kambey said.
"Speakers at this first-ever APIPEC were experts from various countries, such as Australia, Japan, and US, and also from the ministry of health," he added.
According to the UNS Medical Facultys dean, health services are not solely supported by infrastructure and amenities but also depend on the quality and quantity of human resources. Inter-profession teamwork for offering medical services holds significance in offering best services.
"Teamwork and understanding will be easy to realize if trained and taught at the college level. This is where the medical faculty plays its role in implementing inter-profession education," Dean Prof. Hartono said.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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