Voice Message from Doctor Myta Before Her Death: I Can't Take It Anymore

The Ministry of Health played a voice recording of the late Myta Aprilia Azmi, who is suspected of dying from work exhaustion as an intern doctor at RSUD KH. Daud Arif in Kuala Tungkal, Jambi. The recording was revealed during the presentation of the investigation results by the Acting Inspector General of the Ministry of Health, Rudi Supriatna Nata Saputra, on Thursday, 7 May 2026.

According to Rudi, Myta began experiencing fever, cough, and runny nose on 24 March 2026 but forced herself to continue her shift in the Emergency Department for several days afterwards. However, Myta did not improve until 31 March 2026. The next day, Myta described her condition, which included a 40-degree Celsius fever making it difficult to open her eyes.

Myta sent a voice message via WhatsApp to a fellow doctor with the initials M on 1 April 2026. Her story was based on a conversation with a doctor named David, who was her partner on duty in the Emergency Department. “You look so ill. Yes, Bang, Myta said, cough, runny nose, Bang, fever, really hot. And dizzy, can’t open my eyes like that,” Myta said in her recording.

In the recording, Myta stated that she had taken 1,000 mg of paracetamol to relieve her fever. Then, in a second voice message displayed, Myta complained of her body feeling hot, shivering, and nausea. Finally, Doctor David gave Myta dio lansoprazole medicine and asked her to remove her mask to make it easier to swallow.

“I’m wearing a mask, I’m coughing and have a runny nose, I’m just scared like that. ‘Just take it off so you can breathe easily. Nauseous, Bang. Feels like vomiting.’ Alright, she took the medicine, dio lansoprazole, that’s normal,” she recounted to her friend.

Then, in the third voice message, Myta claimed her condition had improved. However, she felt guilty towards David for taking over patients in the Emergency Department and repeatedly expressed apologies.

Myta’s health condition did not improve until 11 April 2026. Two days later, Myta celebrated her 25th birthday while having her hand infused with paracetamol. Myta collapsed again after a night shift. For the first time, Myta asked her friend to cover her morning shift because her condition was worsening on 15 April 2026.

“I want to ask you to cover my schedule, this morning. If you can. Just for today. Later, the night one, let Rena cover it. What I feel is like I can’t take it, Astri,” Myta said haltingly with laboured breathing.

At that time, her family could not contact Myta, so they asked another doctor to look for her. Rudi stated that Myta was found standing under the stairs of her boarding house in a dazed state. Rudi suspected Myta was experiencing hypoxia or a decrease in oxygen levels in her body cells because she still wanted to go to work in that condition.

Finally, from 15 April, Myta was treated at her workplace and was allowed to go home on the morning of 20 April 2026. However, the next day, Myta had a fever again and complained of shortness of breath, so her family took her to RSUD Raden Mattaher in Jambi, which is a three-hour drive from Kuala Tungkal. For three days, Myta was treated and then returned to RSUD KH Daud Arif to continue her internship on 24 April 2026.

Seeing Myta’s condition, her supervising doctor allowed her to rest. Her family then decided to take Myta home to Palembang and treat her at RSUP Dr Mohammad Hoesin in the infectious isolation room on 27 April 2026. Then Myta entered the ICU because she needed respiratory assistance as her condition continued to decline. Myta’s life could not be saved after being treated for several days in the ICU at Mohammad Hoesin Hospital.

“Because of lung problems, her breathing was heavy, so she needed a breathing aid. A ventilator was installed around 4:00 PM. And Doctor MAA was treated in the ICU until she passed away,” said Rudi.

Rudi explained that the results of Myta’s medical check-up showed she was in good health when she first interned at Labkesmas Palembang I on 4 August 2025. Myta also had no health issues when she did her clerkship internship at Puskesmas Kuala Tungkal II from 11 August 2025 to 10 February 2026. Then she continued her clerkship internship at RSUD KH. Daud Arif starting from 11 February 2026 in good health.

It was then that Myta began working beyond the maximum limit set by the Ministry of Health, which is 8 hours per day or a total of 40 hours per week with a tolerance of up to 48 hours. The hospital divided intern doctors’ shifts in the Emergency Department into two, each lasting 12 hours per day. The first shift from 08:00-20:00 WIB, and the second shift from 20:00-08:00 WIB.

The Director General of Health Human Resources at the Ministry of Health, Yuli Farianti, revealed that Myta and other intern doctors at RSUD KH. Daud Arif never got a day off. On weekends that should be off, intern doctors still made rounds to patient wards that should be the responsibility of the attending doctors.

Yuli also stated that the hospital’s work system, which requires intern doctors to meet shift and performance targets, could be the reason Myta was reluctant to request leave when she was sick. Because those who do not meet the targets could get additional working hours.

In response to this incident, the Ministry of Health has reinforced the division of work and leave arrangements for intern doctors. The Ministry requires teaching hospitals to implement at least one day off per week and no longer give a 20 percent tolerance from the total weekly working hours. This means there are only two work patterns: 5 days per week with 8 hours per day or 6 working days per week with 6-7 hours per day.