Jakarta (ANTARA) - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the existence of the Hospital-Based Specialist Doctor Education Program (PPDS) is a strategy to overcome the specialist doctors shortage in Indonesia.
"There is a huge shortage in specialist doctors in Indonesia that we overcome with the Hospital-based PPDS system," he said in a press conference at the 2025 National Working Conference of the Indonesian Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons Association in Jakarta on Sunday.
Sadikin informed that Indonesia is facing shortage in specialist doctors, including thoracic and cardiovascular surgeons.
Thoracic and cardiovascular surgeons are specialist doctors for diseases in the organs in the chest cavity, especially the heart and lungs.
These specialist doctors also have expertise in diagnosing, administering drugs, and carrying out treatment through surgery.
"I ask related parties to increase the number of doctors by passing down and spreading the knowledge. We will not run out of patients," the minister remarked.
Previously, he informed that the Hospital-based PPDS would prioritize local doctors as participants in specialist doctor education at teaching hospitals.
"Later, the provision of specialist doctors to all regions will be carried out together, by education through universities and hospital-based education," he continued.
There are six teaching hospitals readied for this program namely Cicendo Eye Hospital, Soeharso Orthopedic Hospital, National Brain Center Hospital (PON), Dharmais Cancer Hospital, Harapan Kita Hospital, and Harapan Kita RSJPD.
According to Sadikin, this program is expected to shorten the fulfillment of specialist doctor needs in Indonesia from 10 years to around five years.
In 2024, Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono also highlighted the lack of 120 thousand general practitioners in the country.
On average, medical faculties in Indonesia only produce 12 thousand general practitioners per year, he pointed out.
"Therefore, we are opening the largest possible quota for general practitioner education. Second, opening a new medical faculty with an academic health survey system," he remarked.
He affirmed that to achieve the Golden Indonesia 2045 vision, the need for doctors must be met immediately to improve the health of the Indonesian people.
