The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine UGM, Prof. dr. Ali Ghufron Mukti, M.Sc., Ph.D., on Tuesday (31/8) inaugurated 32 new nurses in Auditorium II Building of the Faculty. The graduates are from, among others: thirteen people from Yogyakarta, nine from Central Java, four from North Sumatra, two from Kalimantan, one from West Java, and one more person from Southeast Sulawesi. Thus, up to recent date, Nursing Science Program has graduated 1054 nurses.
In this 16th period of the inauguration, graduates who have achieved the highest GPA, 3.72, are Febrian Poespitasari and Indah Ayu Sulistiyo, while Febrian Poespitasari who was born in Purworejo is also the youngest graduate, graduating at the age of 22 years 6 months and 8 days.
Ali Ghufron Mukti in his speech told the new nurses to be able to uphold work professionalism and nurse professional ethics while working in the community. According to the Dean, the true learning actually takes place when working in the community.
Ghufron also hoped that the graduates always develop nursing skills by always following changes and developments of science. "Please always update nursing skills because the changes and developments get more up-to-the-minute," he said.
Head of Nursing Department, Purwanta, S.Kp., M. Kes., said that nearly 100% of nurse graduates from UGM are already employed. A total of 74 percent was accepted as civil servants and 26 percent worked in companies or private hospitals. "You could say that 100% of UGM nurse graduates are accepted by the customer," said Purwanta.
Chairman of Indonesian National Nurses Association of Yogyakarta, Drs. Kirnantoro, SKM, M. Kes, mentioned the number of nurses in Indonesia is still very minimal. He cited that in Yogyakarta there are only 7% of all existing nurses. In agreement with Kirnantoro, Drs. Elfi Efendi, Apt., of Yogyakarta Provincial Health Office, said the number of nurses needed in Japan from this province is quite immense. However, there is language problem. "Japan needs 5000 nurse work force from Yogyakarta, but there is language problem here," he said.