Salary hike for public-service doctors

Salary hike for public-service doctors

JAKARTA (JP): Doctors and dentists assigned to community
health centers got a government pledge on Wednesday to raise
basic salaries by 100 percent.

But it took a personal telephone call from Minister of Finance
Bambang Sudibyo to convince doctor and dentist representatives
from seven provinces in Java and Sumatra that their demands had
been met.

The doctors apparently were not satisfied with the promises of
Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi who met them at his office.

Sujudi then personally called Bambang to confirm the raise
with the doctors listening on a speakerphone.

Bambang asserted that the raise had long been planned and the
money already allocated in the State Budget.

"The raise was effective from April 2000," Achmad said, adding
that the money would be back paid.

A 1991 Presidential decree requires medical school graduates
to serve in local community centers as non-permanent employees
for three years in non-remote areas or two years in remote areas.

According to Achmad, the purpose of the obligatory assignments
is to ensure that the poor have access to adequate health
service.

"Health (service) is for the public good, we can't just leave
it to market mechanisms. If that happens, only the rich will have
access to it," Achmad said.

However, doctors and dentists doing community service have
long complained that they have not been adequately compensated
while serving their internship.

"The salary is an insult to our profession, only encouraging
us to be unprofessional," Rully Nur Aman, a representative from
West Java, told the minister.

He added that the current salary level has not been raised
since 1993.

The basic salary of public service doctors and dentists stood
at Rp 400,000 per month.

Along with various allowances, those assigned to non-remote
areas received a salary of about Rp 500,000 per month while those
assigned in remote and very remote areas, Rp 850,000 and
1,050,000 respectively.

The chairman of the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI)
Merdias Almatsier, who also attended the meeting, said the young
doctors and the dentists deserved the raise given their greater
responsibility relative to other professions. (08)