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Lawmakers pass omnibus health bill despite protests
The new Health Law allows foreign doctors to open practices in the country, eliminates mandatory health spending and transfers the authority to issue medical competency certificates from medical associations to the government, among hundreds of other changes.
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Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, the deputy chairman of House of Representatives Commission IX overseeing health and welfare, hands over a copy of the omnibus health bill to House Speaker Puan Maharani of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) on July 11, 2023. (YouTube/TVR Parlemen)
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nfazed by health workers’ threat to strike, lawmakers passed the omnibus health bill into law on Tuesday, bringing sweeping and divisive changes to the health sector.
The new Health Law supplants 11 existing laws governing public health. Its provisions allow foreign doctors to open practices in the country, eliminate mandatory health spending and transfer the authority to issue medical competency certificates from medical associations to the government, among hundreds of other changes.
At the House of Representatives plenary session where the bill was passed, lawmakers said the new law would help fast-track health reform after the devastating coronavirus pandemic, address the country's severe shortage of doctors and improve the quality of health services.
“The omnibus Health Law is a comprehensive and important revision to our current [system], and we hope it can help address the country's various health problems and improve public health,” said Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, the deputy chairman of House Commission IX overseeing health and manpower.
Read also: Minister Budi fires back at omnibus health bill critics
Representing the executive branch at the session was Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin, who said the law would “provide a foundation for us to create a stronger healthcare system, not only in big cities but also in remote areas”.
Led by the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI), doctors, nurses, dentists and other medical workers had threatened to strike if the bill was passed into law. They opposed the bill from the beginning of deliberations, demanding it be brought back to the drawing board.
