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Bullying among medical residents in spotlight following suicide case 

A recent survey by the Health Ministry found that one in five medical residents suffered from depression, with 3.3 percent of the respondents, or almost 400 resident physicians, admitting to having thoughts of self-harm or suicide in the two weeks before the survey.

Alifia Sekar (The Jakarta Post)
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Jakarta
Wed, August 21, 2024

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Bullying among medical residents in spotlight following suicide case Illustration of a police tape sealing a crime scene. (Courtesy of/Shutterstock)

R

asyid Syahdan, not his real name, had expected that he would face huge academic challenges once he entered a residency program nine years ago. But, he never realized that much pressure would also come from his seniors who arbitrarily abused their power through systematic bullying disguised under the name of “mental training”.

“I was fortunate enough not to face severe bullying as they only asked me to buy them food [with my own money], something I was still able to afford,” Rasyid recalled. “But I saw some of my friends suddenly resigned, or their names would just disappear from the list of students”.

Coming from a middle-class family, the then 29-year-old medical resident said spending hundreds of thousands of rupiah for his seniors’ meals was not really a big deal. He, however, did feel annoyed when being burdened with “tasks” outside his responsibilities as medical personnel.

“They [some senior doctors] view [bullying] as a mental training because later when we have already reached senior position, there will be other junior residents who will take care of [our personal needs]. But that means the vicious cycle is never stopped,” Rasyid told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Although the seniority culture has undermined the country’s education system for many years, bullying among medical residents gained traction recently following the alleged suicide of a Diponegoro University (Undip) medical resident in Semarang, Central Java, on Aug. 12 due to bullying.

Read also: ‘Bullied’ medical resident at Diponegoro University commits suicide

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The 30-year-old medical resident, identified with initials ARL, was found dead in her rented room after reportedly injecting tranquilizers into her own body, Semarang Police said.

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