With shaking hands, Dr Mangku Sitepu sat down in his office and flipped pages from a book he wrote 30 years ago. It's an autobiography of his journey growing up in a small village in North Sumatra to achieve his dreams of becoming a doctor in the big city of Jakarta, Indonesia.

Ever since he was a young child, he knew he wanted to make a contribution to the nation and the only way he knew how at the time was by becoming a doctor. Growing up in a small village exposed him the difficulties his communities had to go through by not having access to quality healthcare. He saw his family and friends riddled with illnesses, some even incurable. That fostered his interest in medicine. But it didn't start out exactly how he thought it would.

"I have always been curious about everything. As a child, I was particularly fond of animals which led me to study veterinary. I was a practicing veterinarian for 15 years," said Sitepu.

After those 15 years, Sitepu went on to enroll himself in a local university in Jogjakarta and studied to become a general practitioner because, as he said, he wanted to feed his curiosity. He had a fulfilling career for more than 40 years but has now been retired for 26 years.

But even in his retirement, he is still giving back to society the best way he can, by providing cheap and high-quality healthcare to low-income residents in Jakarta. Sitepu is not able to practice due to his old age and complications with his own health but his clinic now has 13 doctors including dentists that treat hundreds of people each week.

Every patient, regardless of their financial background, pays less than a dollar to get the treatment they want. The fee includes consultation services and medicines for their illnesses.

"I believe in practicing altruism. When I opened this clinic more than ten years ago, Indonesians were not aware of insurance. They didn't have it and didn't know anything about it. I saw that there were a lot of people living in poverty who couldn't get access to quality healthcare and that encouraged me to help them," he said.

Research shows that 60 percent of Indonesians do not have health insurance. In a country that's constantly battling diseases like malaria, dengue fever, and malnutrition, that number is concerning. Although the government has their version of a universal health coverage for low-income families, it still does not provide a complete solution to the issues present in Indonesia's healthcare industry.

Beginning from January 1, 2019, it will be mandatory for every Indonesians to register under the government's universal health coverage. By providing cheap healthcare, Sitepu is supporting the government's plan. "As a professional doctor myself, I appreciate his efforts because as we know a doctor's job is not easy. What sets him apart is he does it for everyone regardless of their cultural, financial and social background. Doctors in Indonesia have a lot to learn from him," said Dr. Fery Rahman of the Indonesian Doctor's Association.

Sitepu said he will continue to spread his knowledge and passion of medicine by helping as many people as he can in the country. His passion will continue to live on in the thousands of patients that he has helped throughout the years.

(Top image: Dr. Mangku Sitepu with a patient /CGTN Photo)