The research looked at Indonesian medical interns’ intention to practice in rural areas and has been published in Health Policy and Planning: https://academic.oup.com/heapol/advance-article/doi/10.1093/heapol/czae111/7905069
The maldistribution of physicians in Indonesia, especially in rural areas, remains a global public health challenge. Most practising physicians are concentrated in large cities, leading to disparities between urban and rural areas. A mandatory internship program for fresh graduate medical doctors in Indonesia is one of the efforts to tackle this persistent challenge.
The research team conducted an explanatory sequential mixed-methods nationwide study to identify what and how factors influence medical doctors’ intentions to practise in rural areas. Participants were fresh graduate medical doctors who had been practising for at least 6 months in their internship locations across the West, Central, and Eastern parts of Indonesia.
The study highlighted that there were three factors positively associated with a preference for rural practice: prior living experience in rural areas, accessibility to cultural centres and events, and personal savings as funding resources during medical school.
Based on the findings, the team propose several recommendations for medical curricula and health system policies, particularly to increase the number of practising medical doctors in rural areas.
- First, expanding access during medical school admissions to include candidates from rural background.
- Second, emphasising the importance of experience and exposure to medical practice in rural areas during medical training.
- Third, providing facilities such as scholarships and assurances of medical doctors’ well-being while working in rural areas.
- Fourth, addressing infrastructure barriers in rural areas.
Finally, the study called for a comprehensive and collaborative health workforce policy in Indonesia.
Most importantly, addressing the challenge of attracting and retaining medical doctors in rural areas requires multisectoral approaches that support both the personal and professional needs of medical doctors.
The findings were presented at the Asia Pacific Medical Education Conference (APMEC) 2025 at the National University of Singapore and the team was awarded the Best Oral Presenter (Winner) in the session on Sustainability in Health Professions Education.
