Health-Focused Research

Republika, page 5

The Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education had designed the flow of the national research. This has brought the fields of health and medicine into major focus. The Minister of Research, Technology, and Higher Education (Menristekdikti), Mohamad Nasir, stated that the government believed that global communities would face great challenges on health issues.

Nasir revealed this at the inauguration of the Indonesian Medical Education and Research Institute at the Faculty of Medicine of University of Indonesia (IMERI–FKUI) on Wednesday (12/4). Nasir added that Kemenristekdikti supported IMERI-FKUI to develop and become the flagship for IPTEK in the field of Medicine and Health in Indonesia. He expected that Indonesian research staff and scientists would not just be capable of resolving the nation’s problems, but also the challenges faced by the global community as well.

In ten years’ time, IMERI-FKUI is projected to be the Medical Science Techno-Park Indonesia that is the nation’s research center for health and medicine innovation. This will be completed with the industrial step. IMERI-FKUI is also expected to become Salemba Valley or Silicon Valley of Indonesia in the field of medicine and health.

The Dean of Faculty of Medicine of University of Indonesia, Ratna Sitompul, explained that IMERI-FKUI had 12 research clusters, 3 clusters of research support as well as 3 supporting facilities of education to produce innovation in order to upgrade the quality of education and health services in Indonesia. His jurisdiction opened up the opportunity for all the top researchers in Indonesia and the world to carry out collaborative research in IMERI-FKUI.

The construction of IMERI-FKUI was funded by Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and Saudi Fund for Development amounting to 130 million dollars. This project was suggested together with the construction of the Public University Hospital in the Faculty of Medicine of Sebelas Maret University, Solo and the Public University Hospital of Andalas University, Padang-West Sumatra.