Indonesia Orthopaedic Association PABOI IOA

At the second biannual meeting of the Indonesian Surgeons Association IOA in 1969, the President, Prof. Dr. Soeharso, with the support of surgeons who take care of problems of the musculoskeletal system, founded the Indonesian Orthopaedic Association IOA on the 25th September 1969 in Bandung.

It was subsequently taken over by Dr Ronald W Beetham of Ballarat, Australia after Professor Hilman passed away. Only two general surgeons a year could be accepted into the training program which consisted of two years of orthopaedic surgery supervised and taught by alternative consultants who rotated monthly from Canada, the United States of America and Australia.

Most orthopaedic cases such as fractures, were taken care of by general surgeons, and in the countryside, by bone setters. Problems that had to be faced were late and neglected cases of fractures and dislocation; osteomyelitis and TB of the bone and joint, and advanced malignancies. Due to limited facilities, the growth of orthopaedic surgery was very slow. In 1971, Professor Soeharso, President of the Association died. Dr Soebiakto, who was the project officer of the training program took over as acting president until the next meeting of the Indonesian Surgeons Meeting in Surabaya in September 1971.

Prof.Dr. Soelarto Reksoprodjo who took over as project officer of the program in October 1970, was elected as President of the Association. Prof.Dr. Reksoprodjo organised the Associations scientific meetings in 1974. This was regarded as the First Congress and was a great success. Due to the success of the meeting, the CARE Medico Program which was set up as a pilot program in orthopaedic training, by the Department of Health, was ended and training of orthopedic surgeons became the responsibility of the local surgeons.

Although the program was taken over locally, the final examinations, organised by the Board of Examinations of the Association, were held in English with external examiners from Singapore and Australia.

In 1981, during the Triannual meeting of the Indonesian Orthopaedic Association IOA , the government recognised the curriculum and the Board Examination both of which were already existent. To increase the number of orthopaedic trained surgeons, the training program began accepting graduate doctors who had completed national service as a doctor in peripheral health and this shortened the basic surgery into 2 years and 2,5 years for orthopaedic surgery.

At the present time we have 300 orthopaedic surgeons with 9 Orthopaedic Trainning Program Centers.