An interesting situation unfolded during the farewell and gathering of postgraduate program graduates at the UGM Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing on Wednesday (October 25).
Three representatives of the graduates’ parents appeared together on stage, an unplanned meeting. It started with the Minister of State Secretariat, Professor Pratikno, who was invited to deliver a speech on behalf of the graduates’ parents.
At the beginning of his speech, Minister Pratikno congratulated and expressed gratitude to the graduate program administrators for educating their children until they completed their studies.
Amid his address, Pratikno mentioned the presence of a parent who had contributed significantly to building numerous hospitals across Indonesia.
“Among the parents of the graduates present in this room is an alumnus of UGM who has built many hospitals, from tens to hundreds,” Minister Pratikno said.
He then called upon Basuki Hadimulyono, the Minister of Public Works and Housing, to step forward. Minister Pratikno also mentioned Hasto Wardoyo, MD, the Head of the National Population and Family Planning Board, seated in the front row.
However, the three officials’ discussion wasn’t light-hearted. Instead, they discussed the issue of insufficient mental health care in Indonesia.
The conversation was initiated by Wardoyo’s concern about the increase in emotional and mental health problems among Indonesian adolescents.
“While the Minister of State Secretariat is here, today’s graduates are not only moving into clinical fields but also into health management. We’re also concerned that we lack psychiatric wards and mental health professionals,” said Wardoyo.
He mentioned that based on Primary Health Research data from 2018, emotional and mental health disorders among Indonesian adolescents reached 9.8%.
Minister Basuki responded jokingly, “I’m glad I didn’t enroll in the Faculty of Medicine; I’m an alumnus yet still dealing with serious matters.”
However, Basuki acknowledged that the infrastructure for specialized mental health hospitals outside Java is still limited.
Not long ago, he met the Governor of North Sulawesi, who mentioned that patients outside the region immediately occupied the newly inaugurated mental hospital in North Sulawesi.
“A new mental hospital was built in Sulawesi, but it also receives patients from Maluku, North Maluku, and Papua,” he explained.
Seeing this situation, Minister Pratikno emphasized that the Minister of Public Works and Housing has a new task to build mental health hospital infrastructure in various regions.
“The Public Works Minister needs to build the infrastructure, which is the responsibility of not only UGM’s new alumni but also regional heads,” he said.
These three state officials were present at UGM because they participated in their children’s graduation ceremonies.
Dira Mediani, the daughter of Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, and Hilda Mutia Hanum, the daughter of Minister Pratikno, graduated from the master’s program in health policy and management.
Meanwhile, Hasto Wardoyo’s son, Romzy Azmy Lazuardi, graduated from the obstetrics and gynecology specialty program.
Author: Gusti Grehenson
Photographer: Firsto