Health Minister proposes patient-feedback driven overhaul of hospital accreditation

During a parliamentary hearing, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin highlighted ongoing issues in Indonesia’s health system, including high maternal and infant mortality, late wage payments for medical staff, and difficulties obtaining medicines. He argued that existing hospital accreditation relies on infrequent, checklist-style inspections that fail to capture everyday patient care. Sadikin proposed a new framework where hospitals are evaluated on prompt, high-quality services, staff remuneration, and patient satisfaction measured through a simple smile-or-frown interface similar to that used at Singapore’s Changi Airport.

The revised accreditation will eventually be made public and could affect payments from the national insurer BPJS Kesehatan, though any financial impact on hospitals will not be implemented for the next five years. The goal, he said, is to gradually raise hospital standards without penalising facilities, using public monitoring to drive improvement.