Fulfilling the minimum required health human resources in PHC facilities

By 2029, the Government of Indonesia commits to equip fully the Primary Healthcare Facilities (PHC) with the minimum required health human resources to accelerate the implementation of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programs. These resources include:

- Medical personnel: Doctors and dentists.

- Health workers: Nurses, midwives, psychologists, pharmacists, nutritionists, public health staff, sanitarians, physical therapy personnel, medical laboratory technicians, biomedical engineers, and traditional health practitioners.

- Health support personnel: Professionals providing essential technical and administrative support in healthcare services.

Strengthening both the quality and quantity of healthcare professionals in Primary Healthcare facilities is essential for improving health services across all stages of life. In 2025, Indonesia reaffirms its pledge in 2021 to continue fully equip these facilities with the minimum required health personnel in Primary Healthcare facilities. To accelerate progress toward this goal, the 2025-2029 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) introduces revised standards for Primary Healthcare facilities. Rather than being solely defined by the availability of nine essential health workers, facilities must now comply with minimum staffing requirements tailored to their location and type, ensuring equitable access to quality healthcare nationwide.

Based on this change, by 2024, only 12% of primary healthcare facilities meet the minimum standard for health human resources fulfilment. To address this gap, the Government of Indonesia is committed to ensuring that half of primary healthcare facilities reach the minimum required staffing levels by 2029. This will be achieved by enhancing the number of healthcare human resources, including through establishing and improving the quality of health education programs, providing scholarships for specialist doctors and specialist dentists, and facilitating competency examinations for health professionals. Workforce distribution and utilization will be optimized by special assignments of medical and healthcare personnel and deployment of specialist doctors. Additionally, strengthened the capacity of healthcare human resources by enhancing specialist doctors capacity through fellowship programs.

To ensure accountability, the Ministry of Health will oversee the implementation of this initiative and monitor progress annually through the medical and healthcare workforce planning dashboard, ensuring the primary healthcare facilities meet the minimum standard of services in alignment with the 2029 target.