Adiningsih Sri Lestari Collegium of Medical Acupuncture delivering her statement during the continued hearing on material judicial review of Law Number 17 of 2023 on Health, Monday (25/11), at the Plenary Courtroom. Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Jakarta (MKRI) - Collegium and professional organizations are closely related and cannot be separated because doctors who specialize in the same field of science will join the organization to advance medical science. Some doctors are involved in education who will be the foundation for the advancement of science who can be elected as chairman and members of the collegium. Therefore, the existence of the collegium needs to be maintained as an autonomous body that has the task of maintaining the quality standards of medical professional education in Indonesia and managing medical professional education, including the education of doctors, specialists, and subspecialists.

This was the statement of the Indonesian Medical Acupuncture Collegium through Adiningsih Sri Lestari in the continued hearing of the petition filed by Djohansjah Marzoeki who works as a doctor/professor emeritus of plastic surgery at Airlangga University, on Monday, November 25, 2024. The fifth session of Case Number 111/PUU-XXII/2024, which was held in the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitutional Court, was scheduled to hear the testimony of the Related Parties, including the Indonesian Medical Acupuncture Collegium, the Collegium of Neurosurgery, the Indonesian Nursing Collegium, the Acupuncture Collegium, and the Primary Care Family Medicine Collegium against Article 451, Article 272 paragraph (2), Article 1 number 26, Article 272 paragraph (5), Article 421 paragraph (2) letter b of Law Number 17 of 2023 on Health (Health Law).

Before proceeding with the hearing, Chief Justice Suhartoyo stated that based on discussions at the Justices Deliberation Meeting (RPH) the last three Related Parties could provide written testimony to the Court. The testimony will be considered by the Panel of Justices as an integral part of the testimony presented at the hearings of this case.

Collegium as an Autonomous Body

Continuing her statement, Adiningsih mentioned the collegium's comparison with countries in international community, including America and Singapore. In America, there is the American Board of Medical Specialities (ABMS), which sets the gold standard for medical certification. This is done so that doctors have the knowledge and skills needed, encourage doctors to continue learning, and improve health care practices. In Singapore, Adiningsih continued, all doctors who want to practice as specialists must be accredited by the Specialist Accreditation Board (SAB) and registered under the relevant specialist by the Singapore Medical Council (SMC).

“So it can be concluded that doctors who practice as specialists must have a specialist certificate carried out by an autonomous and independent body without being influenced by anyone. So, the collegium as an autonomous body will be able to work independently without any pressure or influence from anyone and can work optimally to educate doctors, specialists, and subspecialists who are reliable and have high integrity to improve health levels in Indonesia,” Adiningsih, who is the Chairperson of the Medical Acupuncture Collegium, explained.

Loss of Collegium Independence

Setyo Widi Nugroho from the Collegium of Neurosurgery in his statement at the hearing said that the membership of the Collegium of Neurosurgery is responsible to the congress and only exists at the central level and the number of administrators is adjusted to the needs of the organization with a four-year term of office. Its duties and authorities include evaluating activities related to the management of the professional education system in neurosurgery; representing the association of neurosurgery specialists in neurosurgery education; conducting competency tests and developing a neurosurgery education system.

Regarding the Health Law, especially Article 451, Article 272 paragraph (2), Article 1 number 26, Article 272 paragraph (5), Setyo said that the Collegium of Neurosurgery took the position that this had caused legal uncertainty and eliminated the existence of the Collegium of Neurosurgery. Because this has been taken over by the Ministry of Health through the selection system for determination and ratification and makes the collegium a complementary organ of the Indonesian Medical Council.

“The collegium is tasked with maintaining and developing the neurosurgery science in order to realize public health through a positive collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, which is then eliminated by removing the independence of the collegium itself. So far, the independence of the collegium has been maintained with the principle of independence and autonomy without funding by the state,” Setyo said.

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At the preliminary hearing on Tuesday, August 27, legal counsel Muhammad Joni said the Petitioner believes the articles petitioned are against Article 28C paragraph (1), Article 28D paragraph (1), and Article 28H paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution and its Preamble. Due to the new repressive, authoritarian norm relating to collegiums in Article 451, which has no legal argument, the existing collegiums have lost their legality as their legal basis has turned illegitimate.

The Petitioner believes Article 421 paragraph (2) letter b has harmed him as it gave the Central and Regional Governments the authority to conduct supervision of professional ethics and discipline, which should be the domain of the profession and not the government.

As an academic institution, collegiums are in charge of medical science. However, they become baseless if they are normalized as government organs because they will be controlled by political rulers or government agencies. The Petitioner has an interest in the legitimacy of an independent collegium, whose existence and functions must reflect academic principles and the medical science. He argues that the collegium is an independent academic body and so its existence and functions are guaranteed, respected, and protected, not as a government agency. Therefore, the duties, functions, and authority of the collegium are unconstitutional if it is formed by the Minister of Health and becomes an executive organ regulated through Government Regulation (PP) No. 28 of 2024 on the Implementing Regulation for Law No. 17 of 2023 on Health as contained in Article 272 paragraph (5) of the Health Law.

In one of his petitums, the Petitioner requests that the Court declare Article 451 of Law No. 17 of 2023 unconstitutional and not legally binding; declare Article 421 paragraph (2) letter b along the phrase “and professional ethics and discipline” unconstitutional and not legally binding, so that Article 421 paragraph (2) letter b of Law No. 17 of 2023 would read, “… adherence to professional standards, service standards, standard operational procedures.”

Author: Sri Pujianti.

Editor: N. Rosi.

PR: Raisa Ayuditha Marsaulina.

Translator: Rizky Kurnia Chaesario/Yuniar Widiastuti

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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