IDI legal advisor defends members' independence

IDI legal advisor defends members' independence

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Medical Association (IDI)
defended on Thursday the independence of its members examining
whether former president Soeharto is fit to stand trial for
corruption.

"Doctors are independent and they are professionals. They must
be free from any coercive offers when they perform their duties.

"Therefore they must be judged based on their competence and
not only on the background of their institutions," IDI's legal
advisor and counseling and defense board chief Herkutanto told
The Jakarta Post.

On Thursday, a court ordered the attorney in Soeharto's case
to form a team of doctors consisting of representatives of IDI,
the health and social welfare ministry and three state
universities.

"All of these doctors are members of IDI. So why does IDI have
to be included?

"Therefore we suggest two options, namely IDI be removed from
the team or IDI stays, but as its coordinator. Why? Because our
organization represents doctors in every university and
institution in the country," he said.

IDI's credibility is at stake in the handling of the Soeharto
case, he said.

"We do not want any parties to try to ruin the credibility of
doctors by creating the false impression that some of us working
for a certain interest in this case."

Herkutanto also criticized the ignorance of people, including
judges and prosecutors, of the difference between the diagnostic
and administrative roles of doctors.

"It will be useless to form this (new) team of doctors or any
other such team if people do not understand the distinction
between the two terms and their functions," he said.

The diagnostic physicians in this case are those in the
Attorney General Office-appointed team, while the administrative
ones make up Soeharto's private team, he explained.

"Diagnostic doctors are the ones who determine whether a
person is fit to engage in a certain activity. In this case,
whether Soeharto is fit to stand trial.

"Administrative doctors are the ones who treat the patient and
are responsible for his recuperation. These physicians only deal
with Soeharto's health and they can't become members of the
diagnostic team to anticipate a possible conflict of interest.
The same rule goes for the diagnostic doctors," he said.

IDI believes that the both teams of doctors had performed
their jobs professionally, he said.

He said the problem lay in the fact that people and the court
handling Soeharto's case were confusing and comparing the
competence of the two teams and blaming the doctors.

"The two cannot be compared as they used different measures in
their jobs, even though they may come up with similar results.

"I think the new diagnostic team will come up with more or
less the same conclusions as the previous teams. And we fear that
if the court feels that its answers are unsatisfactory, there
will be another team. This will further spoil IDI's image."

It seems that the trial is trying to force the doctors, who
are supposed to give a judgment on Soeharto's ability to stand
trial, and get them to clearing him to stand trial, he said.

"Again, competence to stand trial is determined by the legal
practitioners and not the doctors," he said.

IDI chairman Merdias Almatsier said that intensive medical
examinations must be periodically carried out on Soeharto to
reveal the actual state of his health.

"Soeharto's health report was issued in March and now almost
six months have gone by. His condition may fluctuate. So the
doctors must come up with the latest reports," he said. (edt)