Ario Soeryo Kuncoro
“I see it as my duty to support the work of a foundation like Yayasan Jantung Indonesia,” declares cardiologist Ario Soeryo Kuncoro. He studied medicine at Universitas Indonesia and works at Rumah Sakit Jantung Harapan Kita, the national heart centre in Palmerah. For the past five years, Dr. Kuncoro has been Deputy Secretary General of the Indonesian Heart Association (Perki). Now, he is the Head of Curative Programs for Yayasan Jantung Indonesia.
“We reach out to society by doing interviews, workshops and counselling,” he says. “It’s good to have the support of YJI, whose main focus is cardiovascular education. They have developed all sorts of useful programmes - preventive, rehabilitative to curative - to help heart patients. My teachers and mentors have worked alongside YJI since its inception.
“Cardiovascular problems are complex. So many factors are involved: genetics, metabolism, the environment. You can’t blame one thing, but poor diet and lack of exercise are big problems in our society, and YJI is working to spread more awareness about that. We hope that young people will realise that a bad lifestyle will cause you problems when you get older.”