House Commission XIII Hears Complaints from Junior Doctors Over Withheld Professional Certificates

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Commission XIII of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) heard complaints from junior doctors regarding the withholding of professional certificates during a hearing with the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Indonesian Junior Doctors Movement. “Because this is an education matter, we must see it in the context of human rights in education so there is relevance we can use as a recommendation,” said Commission XIII Deputy Chairman Andreas Hugo Pareira at the Parliament Complex, Jakarta, Thursday. During the meeting, Indonesian Junior Doctors Movement representative Mika Wardani said the fate of prospective doctors is hanging in the balance because their professional certificates have not been issued. The issue is seen as rooted in medical education regulations deemed unfair. Mika highlighted a new rule, namely Minister of Research, Technology and Higher Education Regulation Number 18 of 2018 concerning National Standards for Medical Education. Article 40 paragraph (1) of the regulation stipulates that the medical and dental professional programme is conducted for a minimum of two years and a maximum of five years. However, Mika said the new rule is being applied retroactively. “Why are we, from the 2018 intake and below, subjected to this Ministerial Regulation?” she said. Mika explained that the medical professional education is undertaken during clinical rotations. She claimed that the prospective doctors whose professional certificates are being withheld completed their clinical rotations in no more than five years. Their cumulative grade point average is also reportedly satisfactory, at no less than 3.00. “This reinforces that we have been declared to have completed the medical professional programme by the university. This letter is very strong evidence for us that we have finished, but why are our professional certificates still being withheld to this day?” she said. She also questioned Article 36 paragraph (2) of Law Number 20 of 2013 on Medical Education, which stipulates that to obtain a professional certificate, students must pass a competency test. She argued that the law is ambiguous, causing professional certificates to be withheld for students who are retakers. “If we give an example, when we test a halal product, it should produce a halal certificate. Why does a competency test instead produce a professional certificate? This is a crime and our rights are being withheld,” she said. She added that most of the retakers have passed the OSCE exam. “We just haven’t passed the CBT exam,” she said. The withholding of professional certificates is said to have various impacts, ranging from being unable to take the professional oath, not receiving a professional title, to being threatened with expulsion from campus for exceeding the study period limit. “We cannot get jobs, ladies and gentlemen. Now we are unemployed, burdening our parents. If we could get this professional certificate, even without passing the competency test, we could work in other areas without touching patients,” she said. The impact is not only felt by domestic students, but also by foreign nationals studying medicine in Indonesia. “What is most heartbreaking, our foreign friends to this day cannot return to their countries to obtain a doctor’s title and take competency exams there because their rights to professional certificates are being withheld, even though they have completed all their professional education in Indonesia,” Mika said.