JAKARTA – A coalition of 132 deans and 365 professors from medical faculties across Indonesia has issued an urgent call for comprehensive reform of the nation’s medical education policies, escalating their concerns directly to President Prabowo Subianto after ongoing discussions with technical ministries yielded insufficient results.

The Indonesian Medical Education Institutions Association (AIPKI), representing medical schools nationwide, is spearheading this unprecedented collective action, arguing that current health policies—particularly those governing medical education—require immediate presidential review and substantial revision.

Fundamental Policy Direction Questioned

Professor Taufiq Fredrik Pasiak, Chairman of AIPKI Region 2 and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the National Development University (UPN) Veteran Jakarta, expressed deep concern that medical education policy has veered off course. According to Pasiak, the critical issue stems from unilateral policy decisions made without meaningful participation from educational institutions that serve as the backbone of Indonesia’s medical education system.

“The current medical education policy has taken a wrong direction,” Pasiak stated. “Policies have been decided unilaterally without the active involvement of educational institutions that are key players in the medical education system in Indonesia.”

The professor emphasized that attempts at dialogue with relevant technical ministries have proven inadequate, leaving academic leaders with no alternative but to elevate their concerns to the highest level of government.

Unprecedented Academic Mobilization

The scale of this academic mobilization—involving 132 deans and 365 professors—represents one of the most significant collective actions by Indonesia’s medical education community in recent history. This broad coalition spans public and private universities across the archipelago, signaling widespread dissatisfaction with current policy frameworks rather than isolated institutional grievances.

The professors’ decision to bypass ministerial channels and appeal directly to the president underscores their assessment that existing communication pathways have failed to produce substantive policy adjustments. This escalation suggests a breakdown in the traditional consultation mechanisms between the Ministry of Health and the academic medical community.

Core Concerns and Policy Implications

While the specific policy provisions under challenge have not been fully detailed in public statements, the professors’ concerns appear to center on several key areas:

Institutional Autonomy: The assertion that policies were decided “unilaterally” suggests concerns about educational institutions’ role in shaping regulations that directly affect their operations, curriculum design, and educational standards.

Stakeholder Consultation: The criticism of inadequate communication points to procedural concerns about how health and education policies are formulated, particularly regarding the integration of academic expertise into policymaking processes.

Medical Education Standards: As custodians of future healthcare professionals’ training, medical faculties are fundamentally concerned with maintaining rigorous educational standards that may be compromised by policies developed without their substantive input.

Healthcare System Integration: Medical education policy inherently connects to broader healthcare system functioning, as training standards directly influence the quality and distribution of medical professionals serving Indonesia’s population.

Broader Context of Healthcare Policy Debates

This controversy emerges against the backdrop of Indonesia’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its healthcare system and expand medical education capacity to meet the nation’s growing healthcare needs. The country faces persistent challenges including:

• Geographic disparities in healthcare access, particularly between urban centers and remote regions
• Physician distribution imbalances, with concentration in major cities
• Quality standardization across diverse medical education institutions
• Integration of medical education with national healthcare priorities

The professors’ intervention suggests tensions between centralized health policy direction and the distributed, institutionally diverse nature of medical education delivery. Their emphasis on the need for “active involvement” of educational institutions reflects concerns that top-down policy approaches may not adequately account for the complexities of medical training or the practical realities facing medical schools.

Political and Administrative Dimensions

The appeal to President Prabowo Subianto represents a strategic calculation by academic leaders that ministerial-level discussions have reached an impasse. By elevating the issue to presidential attention, the professors aim to trigger higher-level political intervention that could override or redirect current policy trajectories.

This approach also carries risks, as it publicly highlights discord between the academic medical community and health ministry leadership, potentially complicating future collaboration. However, the scale of support—nearly 500 senior academic leaders—provides significant political weight to their demands and makes dismissing their concerns more difficult.

Implications for Medical Education Governance

The controversy raises fundamental questions about governance structures for medical education in Indonesia:

Policy Formation Processes: How should major educational policies be developed? What mechanisms ensure adequate consultation with institutions responsible for implementation?

Regulatory Balance: How can national health objectives be balanced with institutional autonomy and academic freedom in medical schools?

Expertise Integration: How can clinical and educational expertise held by medical faculties be effectively integrated into health policy development?

Accountability Mechanisms: To whom are medical schools primarily accountable—health ministries setting regulatory frameworks, or educational authorities overseeing academic standards?

Path Forward

The professors’ collective action represents a critical juncture in Indonesian medical education policy. Several potential outcomes could emerge:

Presidential Intervention: Direct presidential engagement could establish new consultation mechanisms or mandate policy reviews, potentially reshaping how medical education policies are formulated.

Institutional Reforms: The controversy may catalyze structural changes in how health and education ministries coordinate on medical education matters, potentially creating more robust stakeholder engagement processes.

Policy Revisions: Specific contentious policies may be amended or withdrawn in response to academic pressure, though this could set precedents for future policy disputes.

Continued Standoff: Without meaningful resolution, the impasse could deepen, potentially affecting cooperation on implementation of existing policies and creating uncertainty for medical students and institutions.

Significance for Indonesia’s Healthcare Future

Beyond immediate administrative concerns, this dispute has profound implications for Indonesia’s healthcare system development. Medical education policies directly shape the quantity, quality, and distribution of physicians who will serve Indonesia’s population for decades to come.

The professors’ insistence on meaningful participation in policy formation reflects their understanding that effective medical education requires alignment between educational processes, clinical training environments, and healthcare system needs—alignment that cannot be achieved through unilateral policy directives alone.

As Indonesia continues developing its healthcare infrastructure and expanding medical education capacity, resolving this governance challenge will be essential for ensuring that policy frameworks support rather than hinder the production of well-trained physicians equipped to meet the nation’s diverse healthcare needs.

The unprecedented unity among medical deans and professors signals that fundamental issues are at stake—issues that will require genuine dialogue, mutual respect between policymakers and educators, and governance structures that appropriately integrate academic expertise into health policy development. How President Prabowo and his administration respond to this challenge may well determine the trajectory of Indonesian medical education for years to come.

Original Article:

Kompas. (2025, October 14). Pressure Grows, 132 Deans and 365 Medical Faculty Professors Demand Improvement of Medical Education Policy. Retrieved from https://www.kompas.id/artikel/en-desakan-menguat-132-dekan-dan-365-guru-besar-fk-tuntut-perbaikan-kebijakan-pendidikan-kedokteran