“Doctors are still in very short supply, especially anatomical pathology specialists, who are urgently needed in Indonesia, but there are very few, making it extremely difficult. That’s why we are now creating a hospital-based specialist training system,” Budi said during a discussion with doctors from Simeulue General Hospital in Aceh, on the occasion of World Cancer Day in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The minister emphasized that the initiative aims to rapidly produce more medical specialists to serve communities in need.
“If we don’t, it’s unfortunate, because our people die due to the absence of specialists, especially in remote areas. This hospital-based education system prioritizes general practitioners from regions without specialists,” he said.
According to Budi, the hospital-based specialist training system will accelerate medical education in the regions.
“Local students will not have to pay a single cent to become medical specialists,” he added.
Data from the Ministry of Health shows that Indonesia currently produces about 2,700 medical specialists per year, far below the ideal requirement of 32,000 per year.
As a result, healthcare services—particularly for catastrophic illnesses such as stroke, heart disease, cancer, and kidney failure—remain unevenly distributed. The government aims to ensure that within the coming years, all hospitals across Indonesia, including those in remote, border, and island regions, have an adequate number of medical specialists.
Medical specialist training in Indonesia will increasingly adopt international standards, where candidates receive direct mentorship from consultants without the burden of high tuition fees.
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Translator: Lintang, Azis Kurmala
Editor: M Razi Rahman
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