September 6, 2024
SEMARANG – Medical students of the Diponegoro University in Semarang, Central Java, have urged authorities to resolve bullying allegations against Aulia Risma Lestari, a medical resident at the university who committed suicide last month.
Aulia was found dead in her rented room on Aug. 12 after reportedly injecting tranquilizers into her own body, Semarang Police said.
While the police investigation is still ongoing, the 30-year-old is believed to have been bullied during her anesthesiology residency program at Dr. Kariadi General Hospital in the city, as described in a diary found at the scene.
A voice message from Aulia to her father also made rounds on social media, in which she described the intense pressure she faced during her residency, which required her to work around the clock despite her chronic health issues.
Aulia’s father, who immediately fell ill after her death, passed away last week.
On Monday, dozens of medical students from Diponegoro University held a vigil in front of the rectorate building to show support for Aulia’s family. They also demanded that all medical schools in the country stop all bullying within their institutions.
Read also: ‘Bullied’ medical resident at Diponegoro University commits suicide
Deputy head of the Diponegoro University medical school’s Student Executive Body (BEM), Muhammad Umar Dani, urged relevant parties to work together to solve the case.
“We want the Health Ministry, the university and Dr. Kariadi General Hospital to work together to look into the case. It’s a complex case and we don’t want to solely put the blame on one party,” Umar said.
Blame game
Authorities have been playing a blame game following Aulia’s suicide, which has sent shock waves across the nation and shed light on rampant systemic bullying in medical schools.
The Health Ministry has swiftly halted the anesthesiology residency program at the Dr. Kariadi General Hospital, which is owned by the ministry.
Ministry officials also suspended the dean of Diponegoro University’s medical school, Yan Wisnu Prajoko, from practicing at the hospital.
They said the decision was taken to ensure a transparent investigation into the case, and to allow all witnesses to provide statements without fear of intimidation and retaliation.
However, the Diponegoro University – which has previously denied bullying allegations against Aulia – criticized the ministry’s decision to halt the anesthesiology residency program far before the police investigation or court proceedings have concluded.
“The decision not only negatively affects 80 medical residents enrolled in the program, but patients at the Dr. Kariadi General Hospital now have to wait for a long time for treatments because of doctor shortages,” the university’s vice rector Wijayanto said on Sunday.
Wijayanto has also likened the university to a “sitting duck” that continuously receives sanctions and public criticism without any concrete evidence.
“All of the [criticisms] are directed at the university and the university alone, despite the fact that Dr. Kariadi General Hospital and by extension the Health Ministry are the ones who determine the extremely long working hours of medical residents,” he said.
Read also: Health Ministry admits bullying rampant at med schools following suicide case
Internal investigation
The Health Ministry has carried out an internal investigation into the case, including by interviewing Aulia’s fellow residents, her seniors, her family members and teaching doctors at the Dr. Kariadi General Hospital.
Ministry’s spokesperson Siti Nadia Tarmizi said the probe indicated that Aulia and her fellow residents were bullied at the Diponegoro University.
“The junior residents were asked to pay a certain amount of money per month to pay for their seniors’ seminars, meals and even laundry services,” Nadia said in a virtual interview.
“They were often forced to cover their seniors’ shifts, leading them to work for extremely long hours. If they failed to do a certain task, their seniors would impose corporal punishments like push-ups,” she added.
Nadia said the ministry had handed the result of the internal investigation to the Semarang Police so that authorities could determine whether there were criminal violations behind Aulia’s death.
The Health Ministry has received a total of 234 bullying reports at government-owned hospitals since it launched a hazing reporting platform for medical residents in August of last year.
In mid-August, two senior residents in the neurosurgery program at Bandung’s Hasan Sadikin Hospital in West Java were dismissed from their positions by Padjadjaran University after being found guilty of severely bullying their juniors.