Indonesia to Allow Foreign Doctors to Practice Locally

The Indonesian Parliament passed into law the nation’s Health Bill, allowing foreign medical specialists to practise and be based in the country. The new law will also simplify bureaucratic processes for general physicians to become specialists, and for the first time will regulate the collection of the country’s biomedical, genomic data for processing overseas.

Associations of the medical professionals have taken to the streets to protest the bill amid concerns that the bill will put jobs at risk.

However, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends one doctor for every 1,000 people, which means that Indonesia, with a population of 270 million, should have 270,000 doctors. Statistics Indonesia (BPS) found that last year there were only 176,110 doctors, including specialists and general doctors.

A major reform in the country’s healthcare system is crucial for the sake of sustainability

(Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/indonesia-passes-health-bill-into-law-allowing-foreign-doctors-to-practise-locally)

(Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2023/07/12/more-foreign-doctors-wont-hurt.html)