In Indonesia, The Number Of Researchers In The Health Sector Is Still Low

Head of the Health Research Organization of the National Innovation Research Agency (BRIN) Prof. Indi Dharmanti. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Head of the Health Research Organization of the National Innovation Research Agency (BRIN) Prof. Indi Dharmanti said that the number of researchers in the health sector was still relatively low.

"The number of researchers in Indonesia, especially related to health, is still relatively low," said Indi in an online discussion in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Saturday, November 12.

Indi said the Global Innovation Index places Indonesia at 87th out of 132 countries for the provision of research.

The need for research and innovation in the health sector is very much needed, especially in building the resilience of the health sector after the pandemic, considering that various policies will be appropriate to decide if based on research.

In BRIN itself until September 2022 there are 8,013 researchers. However, specifically for researchers in the health sector, there are only 473 researchers consisting of researchers from the Ministry of Health, LIPI, BPPT, Batan, Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries.

Meanwhile, the government targets 9,000 researchers by 2045. According to Indi, this figure is still far from what was expected.

"So it must be pursued a lot to increase quantity. Indeed, in BRIN every year invites around 500 researchers with doctoral degrees to be able to join as ASN in BRIN," said Indi.

Indi said it was very important to build research and research interests, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic in order to find new innovations to find solutions.

However, Indi feels that many children of the nation are doing research or increasing their knowledge after the pandemic came. This interest starts from learning about what pathogens are to PCR tests.

"This pandemic does provide a very meaningful lesson, especially in science and many of our researchers who are competing to resolve the pandemic by making vaccines, detecting health, making disinfectants," said Indi.