Indonesia Parliament Passes Health Reform Bill Despite Protests

Indonesia passed a new healthcare bill on Tuesday aimed at reforming the industry and improving life expectancy despite opposition from local doctors and nurses.

(Bloomberg) — Indonesia passed a new healthcare bill on Tuesday aimed at reforming the industry and improving life expectancy despite opposition from local doctors and nurses.

Parliament approved the law in a plenary session after deliberating the bill for months.

Healthcare workers have staged protests against the new legislation on fears that policy changes allowing foreign doctors to operate in the country could jeopardize their job. They also argued that the deliberation process at parliament lacked transparency.

Indonesia is seeking to improve health services for its 270 million people, as the lack of doctors in remote areas and months-long wait for treatments keep its life expectancy at 71.3 years in 2019. That compares with the 76.3 years average for the upper-middle-income countries.

Read more: Indonesia Wants More Doctors, But Reforms Face Resistance

A number of medical professional groups have prepared a legal challenge against the law, according to Adib Khumaidi, chairman of the Indonesian Doctors Association, known as IDI.

Indonesia has six doctors for every 10,000 people, compared with neighboring Singapore with 25 and Thailand with nine, according to World Bank data. That has prompted many Indonesians to spend $11.5 billion a year to get treatments overseas.

–With assistance from Norman Harsono.

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