Govt to monitor foreign doctors
Govt to monitor foreign doctors
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Health Sujudi on Saturday came out
in support of controlling the influx of foreign medical workers
when global trade is liberalized in 2003.
He said that the government will prepare a set of regulations
to make sure that only qualified medical doctors from other
countries work in Indonesia.
"We can use technical barriers to reject unqualified foreign
medical workers wanting to work here," Sujudi said after a
seminar on medical services in Indonesia.
The technical barriers could take several forms, he said,
citing as examples a requirement that foreign doctors agree to
master the Indonesian language or abide by Indonesian medical law
before they can practice here.
The seminar Medical Service in Indonesia, Now and in the
Future was organized by the Indonesian Medical Association. It
featured Ascobat Gani of the University of Indonesia's School of
Community Health and K. Bertens of Atma Jaya Catholic University.
The call for the government to monitor foreign medical workers
came from the association's chairman, Azrul Azwar.
According a 1980 decree issued by the ministry of health, no
medical institution is allowed to use foreign medical personnel
without the ministry's consent. The restriction applies to
general practitioners, specialists, dentists, pharmacists and
medical personnel.
Foreign doctors are only allowed to work in Indonesia as
trainers, if no local doctors have their expertise or if they are
willing to be posted to remote areas where no local doctors want
to go.
Sujudi said when Indonesia opens the door to foreign doctors,
local medical workers will have to improve their abilities in
order to earn the public's trust and to not lose out to their
foreign colleagues.
Indonesia will start seeing more liberal trade when the
Association of South East Asian Nations, of which it is a member,
implements the ASEAN Free Trade Area in the year 2003.
It is also a member of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
forum, which has agreed to liberalize trade among its member-
countries by the year 2020 for developing countries and by 2010
for industrialized members.
Sujudi said that the private sector is beginning to dominate
the medical services industry, as evidenced by the number private
hospitals being established around the country.
"There's no need for the government to reject the private
sector's intention to establish more hospitals because the
government can't build the number of hospitals needed," he said.
Azrul said that proper staffing will also play an important in
the setting-up of private hospitals.
"If all new private hospitals have sound manpower planning,
such as training for their doctors and nurses, they won't have to
hijack medical doctors or nurses from other hospitals," he said.
Sujudi supported Azrul's opinion. "New hospitals which don't
have manpower planning will definitely try to hire qualified
medical doctors from other hospitals to attract more patients,"
he said.
He added that the government has a policy which requires all
hospital builders to clarify their manpower plans before they can
receive operation permits.(31)