Dr. Indra Raymond Karoskali

Dr. Indra Raymond Karoskali was born in Kabanjahe, November 29th 1968. He is the 2nd of 5 children from a Christian family. Both of his parents, Namaken Karoskali and Burkin Tarigan are from one of the major people groups of Indonesia, the Bataks. Bang Indra (Bang = older brother), as he is fondly known by the Bethesda staff, grew up in Medan, North Sumatra. At the age of 16, he went away to school in Jakarta. In 1987, he applied and was accepted at Indonesia University medical school. While studying at this university, he attended the the Christian student fellowship. Even though he knew about Jesus since he was very young, Indra had yet to make the most important decision of his life; to receive Jesus as his God and Savior. In a service held at UKI ( Christian University of Indonesia), he heard a sermon about how Christians should put Jesus first in everything. He then realized that even though he thought of Jesus as his God, he hadn’t really been putting Him as the King of his life. That night, Indra was born again.

Indra’s faith grew stronger through his daily bible reading and prayers, and also through the fellowship with other Christian students at the university. He started thinking about serving the Lord in a place where he could freely share the gospel with other people, and where he didn’t have to worry whether or not a patient could pay for his service. Compared to neighboring countries, the cost of medical care in Indonesia is quite low. However, this so called ‘low cost’ medical care could squeeze the life out of most Indonesians since more than 50% of Indonesians live under the poverty line.

In 1995, Indra’s parents attended a memorial service for Dr. Darmawan Sembiring, a surgeon who served with Bethesda for many years. It was at that time that Indra’s parents first heard about Bethesda Hospital and told him about the need of medical doctors there. A few days later, he read in a magazine about Dr. Darmawan Sembiring and Bethesda Hospital. Indra started praying about serving the Lord in this hospital.

Upon graduation in 1997, Indra moved to West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia where he served as an intern for 3 years. In 1999, while on vacation in Medan, he met Dr. Florentina Ginting. Dr. Floren was born on November 29th, 1973 and is the 3rd of 4 children. She attended the Methodist University medical school in 1992. Indra proposed in March of 2000 and they were married on July 8th 2000.

A week after the wedding, Indra and Florentina decided to apply to work at Bethesda Hospital. A week later they met with Dr. Husin Basir, the director of the hospital, in Jakarta. In August of 2000, they moved to Bethesda Hospital.

Indra and Florentina served with Bethesda for one year. After much praying, they decided to apply to Bethesda specialty training sponsorship program and were accepted. Indra then applied to Gajahmada University in Jogjakarta, Central Java and was accepted for general surgery training. In 2002, they moved to Jogjakarta, where Yoana Samuela, their first child was born on the same date as her parents; November 29th, 2002. Indra is now in his 3rd year of training. He hopes to be able to complete his training by 2007 and return to Bethesda Hosptial where he and his wife will continue serving the poor and underserved of West Borneo. When they return, he hopes to be able to serve with a Bethesda Community Health and Evangelism team. He once went with this team to Bago, a poor village near the hospital. It was a very touching experience for him and he hopes to be able to continue serving the Lord by serving the poor.