Reliable and experienced doctors are needed by Indonesia to contribute as researchers, teachers, managers, reformers, or leaders
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Coordinator Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto has said that the spirit in developing human resources and education sector must be maintained to expedite national economic recovery.

Thanks to the proper handling of COVID-19, the development spirit has revived along with the resumption of limited face-to-face learning activities in several regions, he continued.

"The spirit needs to be maintained considering that human resources are one of the keys to economic transformation," he said in a statement received here on Sunday.

Furthermore, he assessed that economic transformation could encourage various economic structures to become more productive and eventually help Indonesia get out of the middle-income trap.

However, it requires qualified human resources with high skills and global competitiveness.

Thus, universities have to become the front line of generating excellent and competitive human resources.

“Reliable and experienced doctors are needed by Indonesia to contribute as researchers, teachers, managers, reformers, or leaders," Hartanto continued.

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According to data from the Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry, only around 44 thousand out of 8.4 million new Indonesian college students registered in 2020 were doctoral students.

In addition, according to the Institution for Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP), only 143 out of every one million Indonesian citizens are doctors.

However, the number is quite small compared to other countries. Malaysia (509), India, (1,410) and Japan (6,438).

Thus, the coordinating minister has believed that strengthening synergy and coordination among government agencies and all stakeholders, comprising doctors and academics, can increase Indonesia's economic resilience amid the pandemic as well as accelerate current and future national economic recovery.

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Translator: Kuntum Riswan, Uyu Liman
Editor: Suharto
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