Nafsiah Mboi Appointed New Health Minister

VIVAnews - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono appointed Nafsiah Mboi as the new Health Minister on Wednesday replacing the late Endang Sedyaningsih. 

The announcement was made on the same day the President installed the new Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources in the cabinet as well as appointing the new Chief of National Land Agency and Head of Investment Coordinating Board.  

"I hereby appoint the new Minister of Health, Ibu Dr Nafsiah Mboi," said the President at the Bogor presidential palace on Wednesday. 

Nafsiah will fill the position left vacant when Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih died from cancer on May 2.

Nafsiah, 72, is seen by many as too old to hold a ministerial post. However, her track record shows she is a qualified replacement.

She graduated from the University of Indonesia’s School of Medicine in 1964 and became a pediatrician in Belgium. She shared a 1986 Ramon Magsaysay Award, went on to work as a civil servant at the health ministry and in 2006 was appointed by Yudhoyono as the head of the National AIDS commission.

“I saw commitment and real work from her to make people healthy,” he said.