Local doctors concentrate on making money, not on research
Local doctors concentrate on making money, not on research
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian doctors tend to ignore scientific
work and devote themselves to making money, a medical observer
said on Saturday.
Former chairman of the Indonesian Doctors Association Kartono
Mohammad said fewer quality medical scientific reports had been
produced in the last decade, placing the country far behind other
Southeast Asian countries like Singapore and Thailand.
"Every year, thousands of doctors in Singapore and Thailand
write in local and international scientific journals, while here,
not even 100 doctors do so," Kartono said upon announcing winners
of Medika Awards for 1998 and 1999 presented by Medika medical
journal.
"We even lag behind Malaysia, whereas in 1970s some of our
medical professors gave lectures there," added Kartono, who is
chief editor of the journal.
The annual awards were given to doctors and students who wrote
the best reports in the journal. The competition was divided into
three categories: essay, content analysis and field report. There
are three prizes for each category.
The panel of jurists failed to chose winners for this year's
content analysis as no reports met the standards.
"We want to upgrade this event to be more prestigious. So, the
winner must be highly qualified," head of the panel of jurists,
A.A. Loedin, said.
None of the award recipients this year came from Jakarta,
despite the abundant facilities in the city which contest
participants could use, said Loedin.
Kartono blamed difficulties in accessing new foreign
literature for the low interest of medical professionals to write
reports.
"There are very limited medical journals as a result of the
government's decision to abandon the budget to buy new journals,"
he said.
In comparison, Malaysia adds up to 5,000 titles of medical
journals and books every year.
"The Malaysian government also gives 6,000 ringgit a month to
doctors who want to conduct research. And the research will not
necessarily be used by the government," he added. (09)