FOREIGN PHYSICIANS NOT ALLOWED TO PRACTICE PRIVATELY : MINISTER

Magelang, May 29 (ANTARA) - Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said foreign physicians are not allowed to open a private practice in Indonesia.

"If there are foreign doctors who run a private practice in the country, they are doing so illegally," the minister said here on Thursday.

She said she was aware that foreign doctors were working at foreign-owned hospitals in the country but emphasized these doctors could not open a private practice anywhere in the country.
The health ministry had never issued a permit to any foreign physician to run a private practice in Indonesia and was keeping foreign doctors in the country under relatively tight watch, she said.

The minister called on members of the public to report to the health ministry if they encountered a foreign doctor running a private practice anywhere in the country.

"Such foreign doctors are violating the rules, and they will be deported," she said.