President Prabowo Announces 148 Medical Study Programs, Belitung DPRD: This Is Good News

Chairman of Commission I of the Belitung DPRD, Suherman, believes that the medical scholarship program is very useful for the regions, in Tanjungpandan, Saturday (16/8/2025). (Photo: ANTARA)

TANJUNG PANDAN Chairman of Commission I DPRD Belitung Regency, Bangka Belitung Islands Province, Suherman positively welcomed the central government's plan to open a medical study program and provide scholarships for prospective doctors. According to him, this step is very appropriate because it answers the needs of medical personnel in the regions.

"In line with the directives in President Prabowo Subianto's state speech, this doctor's scholarship program is a real solution to the limitations of health workers, especially in Belitung," he said in Tanjungpandan, quoted from ANTARA, Saturday, August 16.

Suherman added, through a state speech in the context of the 80th Anniversary of the Republic of Indonesia, the President said that he would open 148 study programs in 57 medical faculties. This policy is expected to be able to overcome the lack of general practitioners and specialists in various regions.

He emphasized that the benefits of this program will be felt by Belitung Regency, considering the availability of medical personnel is still far from ideal. For example, in Belitung there is only one heart specialist who works at the Marsidi Judono Hospital,' he explained. Of course, he said, this cardiologist who is only one person is not comparable to the population in the Belitung region which reaches 193,000 people. "Our doctors for heart specialists rely on only one person, one person, maybe this is an answer from our anxiety so far and the President answered, there will be formations prepared by the central government," he said, who is also a Gerindra cadre.

He asked the Belitung Regency Personnel and Human Resources Development Agency (BKPSDM) to immediately coordinate regarding this program. This is done in order to meet the needs of doctors in the regions so that quality health services are realized for the community. "Please later the doctors who have been assigned to be accommodated, who knows they want to continue," he said. He said the addition of the number of general practitioners and specialist doctors in Belitung was very urgent. "Hopefully the President's speech will answer the needs of Belitung Regency in the coming years, especially for doctors and specialist doctors," he said