Severe Abuse of Power Accusation Looms Over Minister Terawan

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The former chief of the medical ethics council (MKEK) at the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI), Prijo Sidipratomo, accused Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto of abuse of power. The minister allegedly committed it when Prijo was stripped from his position as the dean of the National Development University Veteran Jakarta (UPNVJ).

“From my observation, this is an abuse of power and there is also a conflict of interest that he committed. After I reviewed it carefully, the violation the Health Minister committed can be categorized as a severe one,” said Prijo Sidipratomo on Thursday, July 23, as he filed a report at the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM). 

According to Prijo, Minister Terawan had stripped his dean status after the IDI ethics council sanctioned Terawan in February 2018 over the minister’s method to cure stroke through “brainwashing.” The ethics council deemed Terawan had violated 4 doctor’s code of ethics upon introducing the method, one of which was charging treatment fees over a medically unproven method to cure stroke. 

At the time, the IDI ethics council revoked Terawan’s membership within the association for 12 months and revoked Minister Terawan’s medical license recommendation. As of now, both sanctions have yet been imposed. 

Read: Terawan Removes COVID-19 Terms of PDP, ODP, and OTG

Prijo Sidipratomo was appointed as the UPNVJ Dean not long before the sanction against Terawan was imposed in January 2018. Prijo admitted that many problems came after the minister was punished by the IDI, such as the abrupt partnership termination between the UPNVJ and the Gatot Subroto Army Hospital, which was led by Terawan Agus Putranto. The deal with the Army hospital was to accommodate the advancement of UPNVJ students’ studies. 

“The deal still had one more year left in its contract,” said Prijo Sidipratomo.

He revealed a more blatant attempt that the minister allegedly committed to stripping him from the position of UPNVJ dean. Prijo claimed that after Terawan was appointed as Health Minister in 2019, he received information that the minister had personally requested Prijo to be relieved from the position as dean. 

The pressures did not stop there as UPNVJ rectors continued to receive pressure from the health ministry in a phone call that requested Prijo be returned to the Health Ministry, which was not ceded by campus officials. Prijo briefly played the telephone recording to the Komnas HAM commissioner as he officially filed a report against Minister Terawan Agus Putranto. 

Terawan then sent a letter to the UPNVJ to relieve Prijo from the position as Dean to move to the Health Ministry’s technical implementation unit. 

The Indonesian Health Ministry secretary-general Oscar Primadi and UPNVJ rector Erna Hernawati did not respond to his request for clarification regarding such a letter sent by Terawan. “The rector has yet answered until this day,” said Prijo.

M ROSSENO AJI