Healthcare workforce in Indonesia

Abstract

Introduction: Imbalanced distribution of healthcare providers between urban and rural areas is one of the difficulties facing health service provision in Indonesia. Several regulations have been made by the government to solve the problem. The objective of this paper is to describe the provision of human resources for healthcare services in Indonesia. Methodology: A review of medical related electronic databases, CINAHL and Ovid MEDLINE, was undertaken from their commencement date until the end of January 2017. The grey literature from the Indonesian government, the World Health Organisation and the World Bank websites was also searched. Results: There were 92 articles identified from the CINAHL and 222 articles from the Ovid MEDLINE databases. Five articles were included from the two databases and five documents from grey literature with ten articles to be reviewed. Discussion: Nurses and midwives account for the largest proportion of healthcare providers in Indonesia. The ratio of healthcare providers in Indonesia is lower than the average of South-East Asian and other lower-middle income countries. More than half of the healthcare providers in Indonesia provide care in community health centres. Several regulations have been proclaimed to improve the imbalanced proportion of healthcare providers across the country. Conclusion: Indonesia continues to develop strategies towards successful distribution of healthcare providers across the country. A study investigating the impact of the programs reducing the imbalanced distribution of healthcare providers on health outcomes is essential for Indonesia.