"Currently, we lack specialist doctors. Hence, I need support from universities to increase and accelerate the number of specialist doctors produced in order to serve the country," the minister noted in his statement here on Thursday.
At the open session of the 68th Anniversary of Airlangga University in Surabaya, East Java, on Wednesday, Sadikin said that currently, Indonesia has very few specialist doctors, for instance, those specializing in cardiology.
According to Sadikin, Indonesia only has 1,485 cardiologists, and the figure is still far from meeting the need for cardiologists in the country.
He noted that ideally, one cardiologist can serve up to 100 thousand people. However, currently, one cardiologist is required to serve as many as 250 thousand people. Thus, it has an impact on the services provided to patients in healthcare facilities where several patients die.
To this end, the Ministry of Health continues to make efforts to increase the number of specialist doctor graduates through efforts including by increasing the number of study programs in the faculty of medicine in universities, opening fellowships, and encouraging hospital-based and university-based medical education.
The minister expressed optimism that as the number of health workers continues to increase, health services, especially for non-communicable diseases, will continue to improve and become more equally distributed across the country.
Rector of Airlangga University Prof. Dr. Mohammad Nasih stated that the university is ready to support the government to address problems in the health sector, especially in meeting the need for specialist doctors.
"We are ready to support various policies, including the development of specialties that do not yet exist at Airlangga University, and of course, also increase the capacity of existing specialists," Nasih remarked.
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Translator: Hreeloita Dharma, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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