RDN continues rural and remote health knowledge exchange in Indonesia

Last month Rural Doctors Network (RDN) CEO, Richard Colbran, and Knowledge Mobilisation Manager, Robyn Ramsden, travelled to Indonesia as part of the ongoing collaboration and knowledge exchange flowing from RDN’s Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Universitas Pattimura (Unpatti), signed in Sydney during Rural Health Month last year.  

The RDN delegation visited Jakarta, Makassar (South Sulawesi), Ambon and Saparua (Maluku Province), with Richard and Robyn delivering a keynote address at the International Conference on Community Health and Medicine 2025 in Ambon, hosted by Unpatti. 

Richard spoke on Health Innovation and Collaborative Solutions for Greater Health Access for Rural Communities, while Robyn contributed as a member of the poster judging panel. 

RDN’s delegation also visited hospitals and Puskesmas (rural and island community clinics) sites in both Ambon and Saparua Island to continue our fact-finding on the Island Cluster Health Referral System. These visits helped identify local system needs and priorities for strengthening care delivery and referral pathways and reinforced RDN’s commitment to regional collaboration. 

“Throughout our visit, we were greeted with warmth and hospitality by the local people”, said Robyn. “It was a privilege to represent RDN in Indonesia and we see great opportunity to inform our own work through the knowledge and relationships gained received from this experience.” 

RDN’s partnership with Unpatti is supported by the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and through the Australia-Indonesia Institute Grants Program, RDN has been able to initiate valuable two way learning towards innovative solutions to improving health access to the region. 

The Unpatti delegation visit in November for the signing of the MOU enabled delegation members to participate in presentations at RDN’s Rural Health Month Conferences at Manly, following which, RDN took the delegation on a guided tour of rural areas of New South Wales around Orange and Blayney. 

The delegation drew particular inspiration on the RDN tour during their visit to the Western Virtual Health Care (vCare) facilities in Orange, leading to an invitation to vCare to send a representative to present at last month’s conference. Western NSW LHD’s Amanda Webster attended and spoke on the topic of “Enhancing Healthcare Accessibility and Quality in Rural and Remote NSW since 2006”. 

RDN’s collaboration with Unpatti represents an exciting engagement for RDN in the Asia Pacific region, building understanding of rural medical workforce shortages and access challenges.  

“RDN believes in the strength of rural and remote communities and health services working together,” said RDN Chief Operating Officer Mike Edwards, following the signing of the RDN-Unpatti MOU in November.  

“Studying the commonalities between the remote island health care experiences of Indonesia and the remote outback experiences of Australia has highlighted for us the benefits of pooling collective wisdom - of sharing, understanding and adapting for local context, successful approaches to the challenges of rural and remote healthcare.” 

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Related

• Watch: Video of the conference on Instagram (Universitas Pattimura)
• Indonesian delegation visits RDN to “bridge borders” and advance rural health care (RDN)