Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin (right), attending the hearing to testify on the judicial review of Law No. 17 of 2023 on Health, Tuesday (3/6). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Jakarta (MKRI) – The Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, provided his testimony on the material judicial review hearing of Law No. 17 of 2023 on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. Representing the government, Budi stated that the current Health Law no longer puts collegium under professional organization as part of human resources management transformation.

“When the collegium, which affects the public, is under professional organizations, which have an interest to protect and improve the prosperity of their members, the potential for conflict of interest becomes bigger,” Budi testified for Case No. 182/PUU-XXII/2024, at the Pleanary Courtroom.

Budi stated that Article 268, paragraph (1) of the Health Law, requires the establishment of a council to improve the quality and professional technical competence of medical and health workers, and to provide protection and legal certainty to society. Then, Article 270 of the Health Law states that the council membership comprises the central government, medical and health workers, the collegium, and the society.

Then, Budi added that Article 272, paragraph (1) and paragraph (2) of the Health Law regulate that the collegium is established by experts from every branch of the discipline to develop their discipline and the educational standards of medical and health workers. Collegium has a role in creating competence standards for medical and health workers, as well as curriculum standards for training.

Budi stated that competence standards should be established by prioritizing the public interest and be free from the influence of a specific professional group’s interests to ensure equal access and maintain the quality and safety of health services. Collegium carries out its duties and functions independently by ensuring that all Collegium decisions are free from conflict of interest and prioritize the public interest.

Budi further added that the position of the collegium is strengthened and established as a council organ to focus more on scientific development and education, which would support the government and its efforts to provide health services that are easily accessible, of high quality, and affordable to society. It is because when the competence standards are made more specific, it becomes harder for those living in remote areas to access the health services they need due to the limited availability of specialist and subspecialist medical workers.

On the other hand, Constitutional Justices still questioned the background of the provisions' change, which the government considers a transformation. Moreover, the Justices also requested a study result, such as the Indonesian Doctor Association (Ikatan Dokter Indonesia – IDI)’s work report, which convinced the government to remove collegium under the professional organizations.

Before closing the hearing, Chief Justice Suhartoyo stated that the hearing would continue on Thursday, June 19, 2025, to hear the testimony from the related parties, witnesses or experts presented by the Petitioners.

Petitioners of the case comprise of the Board of the Indonesian Doctors Association (Pengurus Besar Ikatan Dokter Indonesia or PB IDI) represented by its chairman, Adib Khumaidi, and Secretary General, Ulul Albab, along with 52 individuals consisting of doctors, civil servants, lecturers, State-Owned Enterprises employees, police officers, army, students, retirees, and housewives. They challenged 311 paragraph (1), Article 268 paragraph (1), Article 270, Article 272 paragraph (1), Article 272 paragraph (3), Article 258 paragraph (2), Article 260 paragraph (2), Article 261 letter b, Article 264 paragraph (1), Article 264 paragraph (5), Article 291 paragraph (2), Article 421 paragraph (1), Article 442, and Article 454 letter c of the Health Law.

Also read:

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In the preliminary hearing, the Petitioners said that there was direct intervention and control of the minister of health to the collegium, the authority of the minister of health in receiving a review of the decision of the professional disciplinary panel, the authority of professional organizations over the management of the fulfillment of professional credit units (SKP) of medical workers by the minister, as well as the intervention and full control of the minister of health over the implementation of medical education and training. They stated that the council should act as an independent and non-structural organization instead of becoming an extension of the executive, and it should not answer to the Minister of Health.

The Petitioners argued that normalizing the council to answer to the president through the Minister of Health constitutes a form of intervention. Hence, according to them, merging the Indonesian Medical Council and the Indonesian Health Workers Council to become the Indonesian Health Council contradicts the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.

In addition, the Petitioners argued that the collegium established by the Ministry of Health is unconstitutional because it is a non-independent scientific agency. They believed that the collegium is under the ruler's hostage because they have to discuss with the minister of health to ensure the compliance with policies set by the Minister of Health.

The Petitioners submitted at least 14 points of petitums, including requesting the Court to declare to grant the Petitioner's petition in its entirety. The Petitioner requested the Court to declare Article 311 paragraph (1) of Law No.17 of 2023 to be interpreted as reads, “Medical and Health Workers form a professional organization for doctors, namely the Indonesian Medical Association and a professional organization for dentists, namely the Indonesian Dental Association”; declare Article 268 paragraph (1) of Law No. 17 of 2023 to be interpreted as reads, “To improve the quality and technical competence of the profession of Medical Workers and Health Workers as well as to provide protection and legal certainty to the public, for Medical Workers an Indonesian Medical Council shall be established and for Health Workers an Indonesian Health Council shall be established”; declare Article 270 of Law No. 17/2023 shall be interpreted to read, “The membership of the Council for Medical Workers shall come from elements of. a. Central Government; b. professional organizations of Medical Workers and Health Workers; c. Collegium of professional organizations; and d. the community”; declare Article 272 paragraph (1) of Law No. 17 of 2023 shall be interpreted to read “To develop disciplines and educational standards of Medical Workers and Health Workers, each group of experts of professional organizations of each medical discipline may form a Collegium formed by professional organizations”; declare Article 272 paragraph (3) of Law No. 17 of 2023 to be interpreted as “The Collegium for Medical Workers has the role of: a. drafting competency standards for Medical Workers; and b. drafting standards for the curriculum of continuing training for Medical Workers carried out by professional organizations”; declare Article 258 paragraph (2) of Law No. 17 of 2023 to be interpreted as reading “Training and/or competency improvement activities as referred to in paragraph (1) are organized by professional organizations and/or training institutions accredited by professional organizations”. The Petitioners also submitted a petitum to re-interpret several other articles, namely Article 264 paragraph (1) letter b, Article 264 paragraph (5), Article 291 paragraph (2), Article 421 paragraph (1), Article 442, and Article 454 letter c of the Health Law.

Penulis: Mimi Kartika
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari P.
Humas: Fauzan Febriyan

Translator: Rizky Kurnia Chaesario

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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