Minister Of Health Reveals Many PPDS Participants Want To Commit Suicide

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin gave a statement at the Vice President's Palace, Jakarta, Thursday (15/8/2024). ANTARA/Benardy Ferdiansyah

Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin revealed that many participants of the Specialist Doctors Education Program (PPDS) wanted to commit suicide.

"We have also done screening services against these PPDS and many people want to commit suicide. So, this is already a big phenomenon that has happened," said the Minister of Health at the Vice Presidential Palace (Wapres), Jakarta, as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, August 15.

The Minister of Health responded to the death of a PPDS participant at the Faculty of Medicine, Undip Semarang, who was suspected of committing suicide due to bullying.

The Minister of Health asked all parties to stop bullying, including the medical profession. According to him, bullying can result in a person's life being depressed.

"Here I invite actually all sectors to stop, let's decide this habit. Because this is a bad habit of having a bad impact on a very noble profession of medicine. Imagine if these doctors had been educated like that from a young age, their lives were suppressed," he said.

The Minister of Health also compared cases of bullying that occurred at the Institute of Domestic Administration (IPDN) some time ago with cases of bullying that occurred against PPDS participants at this time. According to him, the cases in IPDN are more of a physical pressure, while what PPDS participants experience is more about mental stress.

"Friends hear IPDN, right? In the past, someone died, right? It happened there, right? Yes, this is similar. If there may be more physical pressure, this is mental pressure," said the Minister of Health.

He said there are still many much more educational ways to create a Tangguh workforce without having to do bullying.

"So, we have a lot of professors, a lot of professors. How come there should be many educational ways to create tough humans, not just medicine in the TNI, in the Police, there are many professions that are asked to have different mental toughness without being naked, without causing depression, without causing people to trigger suicide," said the Minister of Health.