Java no longer option for medical graduates

JAKARTA (JP): An overwhelming demand for medical internships in the larger provinces has forced the government to close off certain areas to medical graduates.

Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi said the provinces of North Sumatra, Riau, Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java and Bali would be off-limits to general practitioners.

Statistics from 1998 showed that in Jakarta, for instance, a doctor served 4,340 patients while in East Nusa Tenggara, one doctor catered to 13,847 patients.

Dental graduates can no longer select Jakarta, West Java, Yogyakarta or Bali for their internships, he said at a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission VII for population and welfare.

In 1991 the government decreed that medical school graduates were obligated to serve at least two years in local community centers located in "remote" areas and three years in "nonremote" areas. The decree is aimed at ensuring the poor have equal access to health services.

Achmad said the larger provinces have been popular among graduates mainly because of the desire to live adequately, and for career and education advancement. Their families are also located in the larger provinces.

Another reason was the "gender issue," he added. Women medical graduates have reportedly been either reluctant to be sent to areas considered remote, or have requested for posts in the same areas as their husbands.

"In June this year, 1,324 general practitioners and 403 dentists have applied for places in Jakarta and Java alone," Achmad said.

The Ministry is going to appoint some 1,974 medical graduates at local community centers across the country this year.

The government is also trying to lure graduates into choosing other areas for their internship by offering bigger salaries for those assigned to remote places.

"Interns in remote areas receive approximately Rp 1.5 million while in nonremote areas they receive Rp 950,000," Endrarto Sutarto, the ministry's secretary-general, said.

Other offers include a better chance at being appointed as a civil servant, and scholarships for specialist studies.

"In hazardous areas, doctors are given a shorter term," Achmad said. A six-month internship in these areas is equal to a one- year internship, he explained. (10)