Faculty of Medicine Inaugurated 78 New Nurses

Faculty of Medicine of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) inaugurated 78 new nurses. Until now the Faculty has inaugurated 999 nurses. Dean of the Faculty, Prof. dr. Ali Ghufron Mukti, M.Sc., Ph.D., in his opening speech of inauguration, Wednesday (17/2) in the Auditorium said that nurses play important role in good health services for people.
 
According to Ghufron, the inauguration actually will raise the level of Indonesian Human Index Development because the skillful graduates will be sent for work abroad by the government.”Until now, we only send women workers to work as maid abroad. It will be better if we can send nurses abroad, too. The Philippines sends their nurses to the Netherlands, Australia, and several countries in the Middle East,” he explained.
 
Similarly, Chairman of National Nurse Association of Yogyakarta branch, Kirmantoro, S.K.M., M.Kes., said that there are very few nurses in Indonesia while there is a big demand from overseas, particularly from Japan and the Middle East.” Last year some 1,000 nurses were demanded by Japan, but we could only send 208 nurses because of the  language barrier. It might be interesting to know that the salary of nurse there can reach up to 17-20 million per month,” he added.
 
He added that the number of nurses in Indonesia is less than 7% of total nurses in all Indonesian hospitals and local health clinics. “Nurses are very rare in Indonesia. In Yogyakarta alone, less than 5% of nurses from a total of 5,000 existing nurses. Meanwhile in Indonesia, it is less than 7% from the total,” he explained.
 
Kirmantoro mentioned that in early 2010 several foreign nurses entered Indonesia. However, he reminded that local nurses are also as qualified as the foreign ones. Nurses graduating from UGM, apart from having skills and knowledge, are also bound by ethics and good morale in giving service to people. “Please become a role model where you work among the society,” he advised.