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Tahir Foundation donates S$1m to improve Indonesian medicine
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Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University (UGM) rector Dwikorita Karnawati (left to right), Tahir Foundation founder Dato' Sri Tahir and National University of Singapore president Tan Chorh Chuan sign a memorandum of understanding on the Tahir NUS-UGM Collaboration in Medicine Programme. The program will facilitate knowledge exchange between the two universities' schools of medicine. The Tahir Foundation has donated S$1 million (US$774,000) for the program, aimed at improving Indonesian health care. (JP/Stefani Ribka)
T
he Tahir Foundation has allocated S$1 million (US$774,000) for Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) to facilitate exchanges of students, lecturers and knowledge and to elevate medical education in Indonesia.
The three institutions' leaders signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the program, called the "Tahir NUS-UGM Collaboration in Medicine Programme", in Singapore on Wednesday.
UGM rector Dwikorita Karnawati said the MOU would run for five years to enhance Indonesian health care.
"The cooperation marks our commitment to collaborate together. The forms of cooperation are not rigid and will follow our needs along the way," Dwikorita said on the sidelines of the signing ceremony.
The collaboration could take the form of cancer mapping in Indonesian regions, which has not been available to date; combined research on cures for cancer, kidneys failure and other diseases; and the exchange of lecturers and students.
"Through exchanges we'll be able to have knowledge transfer, ranging from disease management to health community characteristics in each country that will enrich both countries' health worlds," Dwikorita said.
Dwikorita hoped that improved Indonesian health education would help to fix the mindset that the country has been left behind in terms of the quality of its medical practice.
"We want more locals to trust local hospitals more in the future," she said. (dmr)
