Medical Building, FK Online News – Sakinah Ginna Rosmawati, MD, Head of Darul Arqam Clinic, is a healthcare professional who has spent more than a decade contributing to tuberculosis (TB) elimination efforts in Garut Regency. Born in Garut on September 19, 1987, Dr. Ginna has dedicated herself not only to providing healthcare services but also to the treatment and prevention of TB across the region.

It all began with a childhood dream she had once set aside. Inspired by the children’s song Susan Punya Cita-Cita (“Susan Has a Dream”), young Ginna dreamed of becoming a doctor. However, her family’s financial limitations made her parents hesitant. “Ah, don’t become a doctor. It’s going to be too expensive... Just lower your aspirations,” her parents told her at the time.

Ginna eventually shifted her plan toward studying pharmacy.

The turning point came when she received a phone call from the Head of Darul Arqam Islamic Boarding School, offering her an opportunity to apply for the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ Outstanding Santri Scholarship Program (Program Beasiswa Santri Berprestasi or PBSB) to study medicine. “Alhamdulillah, I was accepted into the Medicine program at UIN,” she recalled.

The fully funded scholarship came with one requirement: after graduation, she had to return and serve at the Islamic boarding school for three years.

Striving as Part of the First Cohort

In 2005, Ginna became a member of the inaugural cohort of the Medicine Program at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FKIK), UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. As pioneers, she and her 54 classmates had to prove themselves amid widespread skepticism. “Why would UIN even establish a medical faculty?”

It was a criticism they heard repeatedly, particularly during their clinical rotations. “During clinical rotations, we were exposed to more people from outside the university... so we really had to struggle and prove the quality of our education,” Ginna said.

Despite the pressure, she remained active in pioneering student organizations on campus, from the faculty’s Student Executive Board (BEM) to UIN Syahid Medical Rescue. She also achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA in her first semester.

After graduating in 2010, she completed a one-year internship in Pandeglang before returning to Garut to fulfill her commitment to serve the institution that had supported her education.

Building a TB Program from a Small Health Center

Ginna returned to Darul Arqam Islamic Boarding School in 2012 as a physician, when its healthcare facility was still classified as a small outpatient health center. It was upgraded to a clinic in 2013.

In the same year she returned to the boarding school, ‘Aisyiyah Garut received funding from the Global Fund to implement the Community TB Care ‘Aisyiyah (CTCA) program, and Ginna was appointed as its coordinator. “There’s a new program. Would you like to become the coordinator? We need a doctor to make the program more professional,” she recalled being asked.

For Ginna, treating TB is about far more than prescribing medication. “When people have TB, they have to undergo treatment for six months... If they are the family’s breadwinner, they may have to stop working, which means they lose their income. Some have even been abandoned by their spouses,” she explained.

The program targeted vulnerable communities in areas she described using the local phrase “kumis tebal,” referring to communities that are slum, poor, and underdeveloped.

This understanding encouraged her to collaborate with Yayasan Arsitektur Hijau Nusantara (Yahintara) to initiate a home renovation program for TB patients. In 2020, the initiative expanded with the establishment of Rumah Singgah TBC Langit Lenglang, a temporary shelter where underprivileged TB patients could isolate during the first two weeks of treatment.

The initiative eventually gained national recognition. In 2020, the site was selected as one of the locations for President Joko Widodo’s teleconference during the launch of Indonesia’s 2030 TB Elimination Initiative. The program was later presented at INA TIME in 2021, while Yahintara received a Commendation Award from the Indonesian Institute of Architects.

Between 2012 and 2017, one of the exemplary TB community health workers mentored under Ginna’s program identified 5,705 people suspected of having TB, with 725 patients successfully completing treatment and being declared cured.

When Global Fund support ended in 2017, Ginna and her team did not stop. As she put it, they simply moved to a “different pool.” After previously covering nine subdistricts, they scaled down their activities and developed a self-funded pilot project in Sukamentri Urban Village through the TB Community Care Group (Kelompok Masyarakat Peduli TBC or KMP TBC).

The initiative later received an official decree from the Regent of Garut, designating Sukamentri as a TB Alert Urban Village. “We can’t succeed alone. This is the era of collaboration,” she said.

Their consistency eventually paid off. In March 2026, the initiative secured new grant funding in collaboration with Yayasan Kemitraan Tuberkulosis, allowing the program to expand its reach across the entire Garut Regency.

Leading the Clinic Through Personal Loss

The year 2013 marked the beginning of an especially difficult period for Ginna. While she was busy developing the TB program, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She passed away in 2015, just nine days before Ginna’s wedding.

One of her mother’s final messages became a source of strength and motivation for her. “Ginna, you don’t need to go anywhere else. Just focus on growing Darul Arqam Clinic.”

That message strengthened her commitment to the clinic, which she has led as Head of Darul Arqam Clinic since the same year.

Over more than a decade of leadership, Ginna transformed the clinic from a simple outpatient facility into a clinic providing inpatient services.

Its development was supported by a Grassroots Grant from the Embassy of Japan worth IDR 524 million in 2020, followed by IDR 200 million in support from the West Java Provincial Health Office in 2023.

These efforts contributed to Darul Arqam Clinic receiving recognition from BPJS Kesehatan as the Most Committed First-Level Healthcare Facility in West Java. “We continue to improve our quality—asking what we can improve this month, what we can improve this year. We just keep going,” she said.

She describes this principle as continuous improvement.

Over the past year, Ginna has gradually shifted away from day-to-day operational duties toward a more managerial role—from being the clinic’s “chief of everything,” as she jokingly describes it, to becoming “the real CEO” working behind the scenes.

“Success Never Happens Instantly”

For Ginna, everything she has achieved is the result of consistency rather than instant success. “Everything is certainly achieved through hard work and smart work, but most importantly, through sincere work,” she said.

She recalled how many of the initiatives she pioneered continued quietly for years before eventually gaining wider attention. “Maybe at first no one noticed us... We were walking quietly, working in silence,” she said.

The principle she holds onto is rooted in a teaching of the Prophet Muhammad: “The best of people are those who are most beneficial to others.”

A major milestone came in 2024, when Ginna received the UIN Alumni Association (IKALUIN) Award in the Community Empowerment Category—an achievement she said she had never expected. “I hope more and more doctors who graduate from UIN will be able to contribute to the nation and dedicate themselves to serving the community,” she said, concluding her story.

((AAS/NIS)