Health Ministry Urged Not to Hastily Conclude Death of Unsri Intern Doctor
The Indonesian Medical Professors’ Council (MGBKI) has requested the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) not to hastily conclude cases of intern doctors’ deaths due to health factors alone.
This was stated by MGBKI official Zainal Muttaqin in response to the death of intern doctor Myta Aprilia Azmy, who was stationed at Rumah Sakit KH Daud Arif Iskandar in Jambi.
Zainal then highlighted four previous cases of intern doctors’ deaths in West Java, Central Java, Bali, and South Sulawesi.
In those four cases, he assessed that the investigations conducted by Kemenkes were too quick to conclude solely on health factors.
“From the Ministry of Health, they returned that those who died had illnesses. They analysed it that way,” he said during a press conference on Sunday (3/4).
He emphasised that almost all Indonesians, including doctors, have underlying illnesses. The issue, he said, is that this should have been detected by the institution or teaching hospital.
“We all definitely have health problems among us. How, when undergoing internship, there are efforts to detect and handle illnesses alongside work—that must be done,” he stressed.
Zainal viewed it as a major mistake if the internship programme managers, in this case the hospital, do not know the health conditions of the trainees.
“If it runs without detection and the receiving party, it means the programme managers do not even know the health issues of the trainees—that is a mistake,” he stated.
“It’s not the trainees who are at fault. We shouldn’t get used to blaming the participants of this programme because they have an illness, so the existing workload caused their death,” he added.
Quoting Detik, several medical colleagues have highlighted suspicions of Myta’s heavy workload before her passing. Before dying, Myta was critical and treated in the ICU at RSUP Dr. Mohammad Hoesin (RSMH) in Palembang.
General Chairman of the Universitas Sriwijaya Faculty of Medicine Alumni Association (IKA FK Unsri) Achmad Junaidi said his group would monitor the case of Myta’s death while undergoing the internship programme.
“We previously sent a letter to the Republic of Indonesia Ministry of Health. They requested an audit of RSUD K.H. Daud Arif in Kuala Tungkal, Jambi, which was the assignment location for dr Myta,” said Junaidi, quoted from Detik on Saturday (2/5).
In a letter dated 30 April 2026, IKA FK Unsri expressed concern as well as several findings regarding the working conditions of intern doctors at that regional hospital.
Junaidi mentioned that Myta was suspected of undergoing a heavy workload without sufficient rest during her internship period. Even when her health condition began to decline since March 2026, Myta was said to still follow the on-duty schedule.
“dr Myta had reported symptoms of illness, but was still scheduled for night shifts while experiencing shortness of breath and high fever,” he said.
Based on his statement, Myta’s condition then worsened, with oxygen saturation reported below 80 percent. Myta was finally referred to RSMH Palembang for intensive treatment.