- Azhar Jaya, the Director-General for Health Services at the Ministry of Health, ("Director-General"), has affirmed that the government is currently planning to invite foreign doctors to not only fill medical vacancies in regions of the country that require more doctors but to also engage in primary knowledge transfers with local doctors. In this regard, the Director-General has also stated that said knowledge transfers should be carried out in certain hospitals as required, including within medical practices that have not previously engaged in such activities.
- In response to the above plan, Moh. Adib Khumaidi, Chairman of the Indonesian Doctors Association (Ikatan Dokter Indonesia – "IDI") ("Chairman"), has expressed the view that while foreign doctors practicing in Indonesia is ultimately an inevitable outcome, given Indonesia’s ever-growing participation in the global economy, other solutions must also be sought in order to overcome the ongoing shortfall in the number of healthcare professionals across the country. The Chairman also conceded that the distribution of human resources across the healthcare sector remains a complex issue that has been characterized by overconcentration in major regions and disparities in the availability of healthcare services, as well as an ongoing lack of funding and adequate governance, and various other issues.
- Given the above-outlined state of play, the Chairman has declared Law No. 17 of 2023 on Health ("Law 17/2023") and its provisions on foreign doctors to be reasonably comprehensive but ultimately inadequate. Similarly, Sukman T. Putra, a member of the Advisory Council at the IDI, has stated that the current regulatory framework does not set out a mechanism for the qualifications and assignment of foreign doctors.
- The Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Doctors in the Middle East, Iqbal Mochtar, has also addressed this issue, explaining that several countries have begun utilizing foreign doctors through workload criteria and level-of-burnout mechanisms. Said foreign doctors are being offered significant welfare benefits but have to meet strict recruitment criteria. Conversely, in Indonesia, the underlying basis for the utilization of foreign doctors remains unclear, while the hiring of highly qualified foreign doctors may ultimately result in increases in overall healthcare service fees.
- For more on this story, see Hukumonline: “Melihat Urgensi dan Kesiapan Regulasi Terkait Dokter Asing di Indonesia”.
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