Young Doctor's Death Puts Medical Internship System Under Scrutiny

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The medical world is in mourning once again following the death of a young doctor from Jambi, dr. Myta Aprilia Azmy (25). She is believed to have suffered from work-related exhaustion while undergoing the internship programme at Rumah Sakit Umum Daerah (RSUD) KH Daud Arif in Kuala Tungkal, Jambi. The passing of this young doctor adds to a long list of dark aspects in the healthcare sector. Before the case of dr. Myta’s death and three others, the medical community was shaken by issues of bullying that led to victims’ deaths. Moreover, Indonesia is currently facing a shortage of general practitioners and specialist doctors. According to data from the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes), the number of general doctors in Indonesia is around 160,000, and specialist doctors number 40,000; equivalent to a ratio of 0.47 per 1,000 population. However, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) indicator, a lower-middle-income country should ideally have a doctor ratio of 1 per 1,000 population. This means that, based on this indicator, the country is still short of about 70,000 general doctors and 40,000 specialist doctors. Meanwhile, domestic production of doctors remains very limited, at around 12,000 general doctors and 2,700 specialist doctors per year. “It is always said that Indonesia is short of doctors, yet there are four young doctors who have just started their careers, taking their first steps, and then they have to die. So, in my opinion, this situation is very tragic,” said health expert and Director of Postgraduate Studies at Universitas YARSI, Tjandra Yoga Aditama, when contacted by Kompas.com on Wednesday (6/5/2026).