Professor Ali Ghufron Mukti
Pro-Chancellor, distinguished friends, colleagues, graduands and guests.
Professor Ali Ghufron Mukti, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Gadjah Mada is committed to research into epidemiology, health insurance, managed health care and health financing, as an international expert with more than 40 journals published since the 1990s. It is with pleasure that we today award Professor Ghufron as an Honorary Doctor of Medicine.
Born into a poor and humble family in Blitar east Java in Indonesia, drawing water from a well on as a daily part of life, Professor Ghufron’s passion to become a doctor developed from a day at primary school when he fell ill. His father took him to the doctor, who charged the family a huge and unaffordable free for his treatment. From this moment he not only wanted to help people as a doctor but to find a way to help those in his country who could not afford treatment to benefit from free healthcare. For him this is what has made the Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Sosial, more commonly known as the BPJS – the social security government agency, so important to him as Deputy Minster and now Acting Minister for Health.
He has since gone on to lead a very successful career. After earning his medical degree from the University of Gadjah Mada, Prof. Ghufron studied for his Masters degree at the University of Mahidol in Bangkok with an MSc degree on tropical hygiene. In 2000 he then went on to complete his doctoral degree in public health at the University of Newcastle, Australia. As part of his educational history, Prof. Ghufron has also received an award as a research fellow from Brown University.
During his professional career, Prof. Ghufron has held several notable positions. Some of the his academic positions include Head of Public Health Division, Director of Gadjah Mada Medical Centre (health plan) department, and Director of Health of Gadjah Mada Graduate Program on Health Financing and Health Insurance Management in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta.
In 2008, at the age of 46, Prof. Ghufron was appointed as Dean in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Gadjah Mada and became the youngest dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Gadjah Mada. Prof. Ghufron also had a professional career as a consultant for international agencies in the areas of social protection, health finance, and health insurance.
His mission to this day is to work towards improving the knowledge of the importance of good hygiene and sanitation by learning from other countries and their healthcare systems and looks to the NHS as an exemplar. Furthermore, he believes improving Indonesia’s faculty of medicine curriculum including its Allied Health Sciences will help to properly implement BPJS social security so that all Indonesians are covered by 2019.
Professor Ghufron has won several awards since 2010. In that year he was presented with a Gold medal from the Government of Balikpapan, East Kalimantan for the contribution in health development sector in Balikpapan in Indonesia. In 2012 he won the Alumni Award at the University of Newcastle in Australia and also The Best Australian Alumni Award for Outstanding Contribution to Public (Health) Administration.
He wants the younger generation of Indonesia to hear his message that the future of their country lies in their hands. He wants them to be innovative, to think outside the box and ask questions to improve the healthcare system. He hopes students studying overseas using state funding like LPDP or their Budi scheme will return home and apply their new knowledge to develop Indonesia’s health sector like he himself did upon completion of his PhD in Australia.