YOGYAKARTA – School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Gadjah Mada again inaugurated 32 new nurse graduates consisting of 7 men and 25 women on Tuesday (19/4) in the auditorium of the Faculty. Thus, the number of nurses who have been inaugurated by School of Nursing UGM is 1145 people.
In this inauguration, the highest GPA, 3.80, was achieved by Arvina Silalahi, Frengki Rixen (3.43) and Ratih Setya Palupi (3.39). Meanwhile, the highest GPA of professional level was achieved by Fransisika Oktavia with 3.84. The youngest graduate was achieved by Endang Lusiawati at the age of 23 years and 10 months.
Dean of Faculty of Medicine of UGM, Prof. dr. Ali Ghufron Mukti, M.Sc., Ph.D., said that it is not easy to be admitted to the UGM School of Nursing. Last year the number of applicants for program of medical education and nursing reached 22,000 people, while only 700 people were accepted. According to Ghufron, that means those who are accepted are the selected ones.
"Considering the tight competition in the admission, so after graduating you are required to maintain the good name of the alma mater, to apply the knowledge you have gained professionally, to follow the scientific development," said Prof. Ali Ghufron Mukti after inaugurating the new nurses.
Chairman of Indonesian National Nurses Association of Yogyakarta, Kirmantoro, S.K.M, M. Kes., admitted that nurses are still few in Indonesia, while the demand for nurses is very large from abroad, especially Japan and the Middle East. Kirmantoro mentioned in Yogyakarta alone from 5000 nurses only 7 percent are graduates of Nursing School. "Although there are thousands nurses in Yogyakarta, it is still below 7 percent graduating from nursing school," he said.
All good nurses graduated from D3 and Nursing must follow a competency test conducted by PPNI of Yogyakarta. This was done in order that nurses have the knowledge and competence in delivering health services. "Every year Yogyakarta graduated 700 nurses. All are required to follow a competency exam," he said.
Kirmantoro asked the graduates of UGM to have better level of competence than graduates from other universities. "In other Nursing Academy, the graduation rate is below 60 percent, the rate of UGM is one hundred percent," he explained.
Attending the inauguration of Nurses this time were the Head of the Provincial Health Office represented by Drs Elvy Effendi, Apt, M. Kes, and Director General of Margono Soekardjo Hospital of Banyumas, dr. Gempol Suwandono, MM.