Background History : 

Surgery of the thoracic surgery in Indonesia was firstly done in Surabaya , which was first carried out by Prof. M. Soetojo , drainaging a thoracic empyema case,  carried out at the CBZ hospital in Surabaya in 1945.

The pioneers of heart and lung surgery in Indonesia were Prof. Margono Soekardjo in Jakarta, (Dutch education) and Dr. Eri Soedewo (Swedish education). In 1948 Prof. Margono Soekardjo conducted a mitral valve repair operation in a  case with mitral stenosis using a finger fracture technique. Later, in 1955 Dr. Irawan Suria Santosa worked on PDA operations and mitral stenosis, while in 1957 he performed BT Shunt surgery and ASD closure with inflow occlusion techniques.

Open heart surgery using a heart-lung machine began in 1958 in Jakarta by Dr. Wullf (Sweden) assisted by Dr. Eri Soedewo. Doctors Irawan Suria Santoso, together with  Soerarso Hardjowasito, in 1962 performed open heart surgery with hypothermic technique in 10 cases with ASD sekundum.

In Surabaya, thoracic surgery was pioneered by Dr. Pouw Tek Hie by performing Lung-schwarte surgery, empyema, thoracoplasty and plombage, and continued by Dr. Liem Bing Hwie and Dr. A. Hidayat Hamami. Later, with the help of Dr. McCain from UCLA, they then performed ligation of PDA.  While in Malang , thoracic surgery was pioneered by Dr. Achmad Johar, a Lung specialist and in Bandung by Dr. Koestedjo, and in Jakarta thoracic surgery was pioneered by Dr. Djamaloedin and Dr. Irawan Soeria Santoso.

In 1969 with the support from the Colombo plan,  Prof. Sakakibara together with Dr. Soerarso Hardjowasito performed open heart surgery operations program in Jakarta, namely closure of ASD, VSD, TOF correction, and valve replacement. In Surabaya with the support from The British Council in 1971,  open-heart surgery (ASD closure) was done by Dr. Belcher, assisted by Dr. Liem Bing Hwie and Dr. A.Hamami. Further, in 1973 with the support of Prof. Dr. Eri Soedewo, and Drs. Liem Bing Hwie, Hidayat Hamami, open heart surgey was performed by “full Indonesian Team” lead by Dr. Puruhito in Surabaya . In 1981, Dr. Puruhito and the Team performed on the first coronary bypass surgery in Surabaya, while coronary bypass surgery in Jakarta was first performed by Dr. Kukuh Basuki Rachmat, Dr. Ismid DI Busroh, Dr. Sukri Karim, and Dr. Ruswan at Pelni Hospital in 1982. Congenital Heart Surgery was continued and lead in Jakarta by Dr.Jusuf Rachmat.

Furthermore, sporadically, a heart surgery (closed) started as follows: RS. Gatot Subroto Jakarta in 1981 by the Heart Surgery Team from TEXAS HEART INSTITUTE lead by Dr. Michael De-Bakey, Padang: 1992, Medan: 1993, Bandung: 1993, Semarang: 1992, Yogya: 1992, Jayapura, West Irian (Papua): 1993 the first PDA operation by Dr.Paul Tahalele, followed by 1995 a Mitral Comisurotomy closed , and then later closed heart surgery in  Denpasar: 1997, Malang: 1998.

Brief History of the Association :

In 1978, at the same time as the IKABI Congress was hosted in Medan, the Indonesian Association of Cardiovascular Surgeons was founded, abbreviated as “HATI”, which was the forerunner to the beginning of the Association of Indonesian Cardiac Thoracic Surgeons and recorded as the founder was Dr. Soerarso Hardjowasito, Dr. Puruhito, and Dr. Panusunan Nasution, supported by Prof. Koestedjo, Dr. John Pieter and Dr. Djang Jusi. (Dr. Djang Jusi, later then pioneered the development of Vascular Surgery). Chairman of “HATI” was Dr.Soerarso Hardjowasito with General Secretary Dr.Puruhito. In the course of time and agreement of the members, the Association began in 1983 to be changed to “HBTKVI”, which was an abbreviation of “Association of Indonesian Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons” 

Training and College of Indonesian Thoracic, Cardiac and Vascular Surgery :

On October 10, 1983 the “BTKV College” was formed, chaired by Dr. Soerarso Hardjowasito and Secretary of the Indonesian College of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeon was  Dr.Puruhito. Since then cardiovascular thoracic surgery education began to be organized, and whereas most of the surgeons’ education and training  was still obtained partially from abroad, and is a continuation of the general-surgeon specialist.

Until 1996, there were 32 surgeons specializing in Thoracic and Cardiovascular thoracic surgery with certification from the College. In 1996 the Chair of HBTKVI was continued by Dr.Tarmizi Hakim, and the Chairperson of the BTKV College was continued by Prof.Dr.Puruhito. At the HBTKV meeting in Bandung in 1999, it was decided that starting from year 2000 , Indonesian BTKV education would be opened for general practitioners with a total education period of 10 semesters, namely 4 basic surgery semesters and 6 semesters for TKV surgery. However, the study program does not cover participants who was originated from general surgical specialists, with the provisions that the training taken into account only of their basic surgery period, so that the advanced surgical curriculum is undertaken the same as participants from general practitioners.

Then in 2003 based on the Decree of the Indonesian Medical College Assembly No. 61 / SK / MKKI / 2003 dated April 30, 2003 and the Dean Forum of the Faculty of Medicine ,which organizing Specialist Medical Education Program No. 3472 / FD.PPDS / SK / 2003 dated June 12, 2003, specialist education for Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery is officially recognized at the University of Indonesia and at Airlangga University. The Chairperson of the  Study Program at Univ.Indonesia was Dr. Jusuf Rahmat and at Airlangga University was Dr. Heru Koesbijanto. As the Chair of the College was Prof.Dr.Paul Tahalele. The  Chairman of HBTKVI was Dr. Maizul Anwar.

Developmental History of Cardiac Surgery, Thoracic Surgery and Vascular Surgery in Indonesia :

With the establishment of Harapan Kita Heart Hospital in Jakarta which began its operations in 1985, and during the leadership of Dr. Soerarso Hardjowasito with a cardiac surgery team consisting of Dr. Tarmizi Hakim, Dr. Maizul Anwar, Dr. Jusuf Rachmat, Dr. Hafil Abdulgani, and Dr. Sumanto cardiac surgery at the Heart Hospital is growing rapidly from year to years. Along with the development of cardiac surgery at Harapan Kita Heart Hospital and the development of thoracic surgery at Persahabatan Hospital Jakarta, Thoracic-Cardiovascular Surgery at Dr.Soetomo Hospital Surabaya, cardiovascular and thoracic surgery services were also developed in other cities, namely Medan, Padang, Bandung, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Malang, Makassar, Bali and Manado by creating a cardiovascular thoracic surgery team at local hospitals and dedicated  surgeons, educating and training of local surgeon to become a cardiovascular thoracic surgery consultant.

TCV-Surgeon Specialization :

With the development of Vascular Surgery, since 2012 it was decided by the HBTKVI Congress to change the name of expertise to “Specialist Thoracic, Cardiac and Vascular Surgery” (SpBTKV) with the aim that Vascular surgery and Endovascular Surgery also became one of the main goals of BTKV specialist’s education. Another consequence is that after obtaining the SpBTKV title, the title “SpB” (General Surgeon) title cannot be used anymore.

Present status of TCV Surgery in Indonesia :

At this time, Open Heart Surgery, Thoracic/Lung Surgery as well as Vascular-Endovascular Surgery has become routine surgery throughout the archipelago, starting from Aceh, Medan, Padang, Pekanbaru / Riauw, Palembang, Jakarta and Tangerang, Bandung, Semarang, Jogjakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar, Samarinda, Makassar, Manado and lately Malang. (updated 2020)