IO – Roche Indonesia, University of Indonesia, Dharmais Cancer Hospital’s National Cancer Center, and the Indonesian Oncological Nurse Association (Himpunan Perawat Onkologi Indonesia – “HIMPONI”) signed a Cooperation Agreement, intending to generate a common solution to strengthen the capacity of oncological nursing workers in Indonesia.
This multi-party, multiple-year partnership agreement is meant to satisfy long- and short-term needs for oncological nurses in our country, and provide our citizens with better cancer treatment, by developing and implementing strategies to improve oncological nursing training and education in Indonesia.
“This multi-party partnership agreement expresses Roche’s sustainable commitment and investment in the oncological community. With this program, progress in oncological nursing education and training will contribute to the reduction of the current load in cancer treatment, as well as better patient care,” said Dr. Ait-Allah Mejri, Roche Indonesia’s President Director.
The World Health Organization (2018) reports that the ratio of nurses and midwives to citizens in Indonesia is only 2.4 per 1,000 persons. This means that most of the rural and remote areas in the country are insufficiently – or even not at all – served by medical workers. Furthermore, Indonesian nurses generally depend only on on-the-job training for oncology. Even worse, oncological workers are frequently rotated in different units, which limits the amount of useful experience nurses have in the field and prevents them from becoming oncological specialists in our country. Consequently, our nurses are exhausted and insufficiently skilled, and cancer patients can only receive substandard treatment despite workers’ best efforts.
It is obvious that demand for oncological treatment services continue to increase significantly every day. The cooperation, wholeheartedly approved by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia, is expected to double the number of nurses with basic oncological nursing certification and oncological specialist nurses.
“As the National Cancer Center, Dharmais Cancer Hospital must contribute to the development of cancer treatment resources and strengthen its network in Indonesia. This partnership agreement can provide a good basis for the development of oncological nurse capacity, especially for hospitals included in the national cancer network. At the same time, it will also positively impact the quality of cancer treatment in Dharmais Cancer Hospital. Therefore, we really appreciate the commitment of Roche Indonesia, University of Indonesia and HIMPONI to partner with us for this purpose,” said dr. Soeko W. Nindito, MARS, Dharmais Cancer Hospital’s President Director, during the signing ceremony.
This capacity-building initiative is meant to improve the standard of national oncology treatments through mentoring, faculty expansion, and exchange of learning and experience from more advanced countries and systems. In the short term, it will increase the number of trained nurses who are able to provide basic oncological treatment, by increasing the number of basic oncological training centers. They will start by developing a nationally-accredited basic oncological nursing training curriculum that refer to international standards, providing fundamental training, and establishing new training centers in the outer regions. In the medium- to long-term, the partnership will increase the number of oncological specialist nurses by providing both nursing students and lecturers with scholarships for a 3-year formal oncological studies in the University of Indonesia, as well as providing technical assistance for other universities to open their own oncological nursing specialist program.
“Oncological nurses are extremely important, as they are the ones who most frequently meet with and serve patients and their families during cancer treatment. Therefore, it is necessary for us to have professional nurses who are acknowledged as equal work partners of doctors when treating patients. We have just opened the Oncological Nursing Specialist Study Program in the University of Indonesia. We are the first university to suggest that we open this specialist nursing education in Indonesia. We hope to increase the contribution of the parties through this cooperation, working towards the improvement of cancer patient treatment quality at Dharmais Hospital and other hospitals,” said Vita Silvira, S.E., Ak., M.B.A, C.A., Acting Dean of the University of Indonesia Faculty of Nursing, also during the signing.
Dr. Kemala Rita Wahidi, S.Kp.,Sp.,Kep.Onk.,E.T.N.,M.A.R.S.,FIS.Qua., Chairwoman of HIMPONI and an initiator of the Agreement, expressed her appreciation of the parties’ commitment towards the success of the endeavor. “We are certain that the partnership will not only improve the professionalism of the nurses who treat cancer patients in Indonesia, but will also generate improved quality of treatment, care, and administration of cancer patients in Indonesia as the outcome,” she said.