UI Professor Urges Strengthened Protections for Junior Doctors

A senior professor from the University of Indonesia’s Faculty of Medicine, Tjandra Yoga Aditama, has urged the government and all stakeholders to strengthen protections for junior doctors and health workers following renewed reports of a doctor’s death during an internship programme. Tjandra stated that the death of a young doctor undergoing an internship adds to a series of fatalities among junior doctors in recent months. According to him, at least six intern doctors have died from various causes since February 2026. Additionally, other young medical personnel have also passed away. “We once again earnestly hope that these young doctors will be protected, as well as other health workers,” Tjandra said in a written statement on Wednesday, 29 July 2026. He assessed that protections for doctors and health workers should refer to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) in the guide ‘Caring for Those Who Care: Guide for the Development and Implementation of Occupational Health and Safety Programmes for Health Workers’. He also cited the 74th World Health Assembly (WHA) Resolution on protecting and investing in health workers. According to Tjandra, these recommendations emphasise the importance of comprehensive protection against the risks health workers face on the job. This protection covers exposure to infectious diseases, psychosocial issues such as work-related mental stress, physical burdens including fatigue from long working hours, and various other risks present in healthcare facilities. He noted that cases of infectious diseases like measles and psychological pressure on doctors have repeatedly drawn public attention. Therefore, he argued, protective measures must not be merely administrative but must be realised through concrete policies. “Only with very serious attention and real protective efforts can we prevent the recurring deaths of doctors at a young age,” Tjandra said. He expressed hope that the deaths of young doctors would be taken seriously to prevent similar incidents from recurring in the future. Recently, another case of an intern doctor’s death occurred. A young doctor named Siti Zahra Maghfiroh, who was serving in Cisalak, Depok, died after allegedly falling from an apartment in the Kalibata City area, South Jakarta, on Sunday, 26 July 2026. Prior to this, Kartika Ayu Permatasari died in February 2026. She was a junior doctor serving at Bina Bhakti Husada Hospital in Rembang and was reported to have died after being detected with a measles infection. Following Kartika, Edgar Bezaliel Hartanto died in March 2026 while undergoing an internship programme at Bhayangkara Hospital in Denpasar, Bali. Edgar died after contracting dengue fever. Subsequently, Andito Muhammad Wibisono, a junior doctor, died shortly after Edgar, on 26 March 2026. He was suspected of suffering from complications of encephalitis and myocarditis while serving at Pagelaran Regional General Hospital in Cianjur, West Java. Additionally, the death of junior doctor Myta Aprilia Azmy, who was serving at KH Daud Arif Hospital in Kuala Tungkal, Jambi, had previously gone viral. Myta’s death was also reportedly caused by illness. There was also the case of Muhammad Zulfikar Drakel, a junior doctor at Sukadana Regional General Hospital in East Lampung, who died in July 2026, reportedly due to a history of comorbidities and infection.