Indonesia is working to address long-standing gaps in its health workforce, including shortages, skills mismatches and uneven distribution of health workers across regions. Only 78.1 % of public hospitals have a complete set of the seven basic medical specialist types, including radiology, anaesthesiology, clinical pathology, surgery, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and internal medicine. This created unequal access to specialist services across the country. By 2032, the Ministry of Health estimates Indonesia will lack approximately 65 000 medical specialists as demand rises with population growth and increasing disease burdens. At the primary care level, only 65% of primary healthcare centres (puskesmas) meet the minimum requirement of nine basic health worker categories: medical doctors, dentists, nurses, midwives, health promotion officers, environmental health officers, nutritionists, pharmacists, and medical laboratory technologists.
To respond, the Ministry of Health, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), is advancing a Health Labour Market Analysis (HLMA) to strengthen evidence-based health workforce policies. This approach examines the entire healthcare labour market comprehensively, analysing how health workers are trained, employed, distributed, and retained throughout the system.
The initiative began with a multi-stakeholder workshop on 8 December 2025, followed by an official kick-off meeting on 9 December 2025. The Ministry brought together directors from the Directorate General of Health Workforce and technical teams to review priority workforce issues, refine policy questions, agree on data requirements and set an indicative timeline for the January–June 2026 analysis period. WHO supported these discussions by helping to clarify expected outputs and define the technical approach.
The Ministry of Health will now lead the quantitative data collection covering education and training capacity, workforce stock and distribution, recruitment and vacancies, attrition and migration, remuneration, and service delivery across primary care and hospitals. WHO will provide technical assistance throughout data mapping, validation and preliminary analysis to identify early trends and inform policy dialogue.
Dr Yuli Farianti, Director General of Health Workforce, officially opening the kick-off of the Health Labour Market Analysis on 9 December 2025. Credit: Ministry of Health, Indonesia
Dr Yuli Farianti, Director General of Health Workforce at the Ministry of Health, emphasised the importance of this work. "The analysis is a crucial foundation for future health workforce policies. I fully support this process and encourage all stakeholders to actively contribute and ensure that the data used are of high quality, so that the resulting policy analysis is credible and accountable for strengthening Indonesia’s health workforce," she said.
For Indonesia, HLMA will enable policy makers to develop targeted solutions to address shortages and distribution gaps. Over time, this contributes to a stronger and more resilient health system with more reliable access to quality services for people across Indonesia.
Written by Zakiyah Eke, National Professional Officer (Health Workforce), WHO Indonesia.