TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsMed school head dismissal raises alarm on worsening academic freedom
While the Health Ministry denies its involvement, the dismissal of Airlangga University's medical school dean in East Java allegedly over his criticism of the government's plan to invite foreign doctors to open practices in Indonesia has been met with opposition from the academic community, who call the sacking a violation against academic freedom.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Young physicians hold posters during a demonstration on July 4, 2024, in front of Airlangga University's school of medicine in Surabaya, East Java. During the protest, which was also attended by professors and other academics on campus, they demanded that the university rector reinstate Budi Santoso as the head of the faculty so he could complete his term. Budi was dismissed after expressing opposition to the Health Ministry's plan to invite foreign doctors to practice in Indonesia. (Antara/Didik Suhartono)
T
he dismissal of a medical school dean in Surabaya, East Java, allegedly for his criticism of the government’s plan to allow foreign doctors to open practice in Indonesia has raised the alarm on the condition of the country’s academic freedom.
The Health Ministry recently pushed a plan to invite foreign doctors to make up for medical staff shortages in Indonesia, as allowed in the Health Law enacted last year. As part of the plan, the ministry issued a letter on June 9 announcing the need for foreign doctors in the hospitals it managed.
But the plan met opposition from various parties, including Airlangga University’s medical school dean Budi Santoso, who told the media on June 27 that 92 medical schools across the country were able to produce graduates with the same quality as the foreign talent.
Not long after he made the statement, Budi was fired from his position as dean, raising speculation that his dismissal was related to his public comments against the Health Ministry’s foreign doctor plan.
The former dean claimed that he was summoned by the university’s rectorate on July 1 to clarify his intentions behind the statement.
“The rector and I have a different opinion [regarding the foreign doctor plan]. I was declared to have a different stance, then I accepted the rector’s decision,” Budi said on Wednesday, as quoted by tempo.co.
Airlangga University spokesperson Martha Kurnia Kusumawardhani confirmed Budi’s dismissal on Thursday, but she said the decision was part of an internal policy to “implement better management to strengthen the institutional [capacity] of the medical school,” Antara reported.
