AI Proposed for Disease Analysis, Health Minister Says Doctors Must Still Touch and See Patients

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has spoken out regarding a proposal from the House of Representatives’ Commission IX to utilise artificial intelligence (AI) to address the shortage of doctors in the regions. Responding to this, Budi stated that the government’s main focus must not be diverted, which is to continue addressing the shortage of doctors in the regions. “What fundamentally must be answered is that the doctor shortage occurs mainly in remote areas. That is what must be addressed, yes. I think the main priority is there first,” Budi said at the Parliament Complex in Jakarta on Thursday, June 25, 2026. He emphasised that only then could the use of telemedicine and AI be employed to assist work in the health sector. “But do not let that divert our focus or attention from increasing the number of doctors and distributing them to the regions,” Budi stated. Budi assessed that the task of doctors and health workers in analysing a patient’s illness would likely be difficult to replace with AI. “Because doctors and health workers, medical personnel, must see and must also touch the patients,” he explained. Previously, Deputy Chair of Commission IX of the House of Representatives, Nihayatul Wafiroh, proposed that the Ministry of Health utilise artificial intelligence to overcome the shortage of doctors in the regions. “I am not a medical person, but I imagine nowadays we see many sectors that have been assisted by AI,” Nihayatul said. “Is it possible, Sir, that in certain areas where there may be medical personnel and so on, we could be assisted by AI,” she added. Nihayatul suggested that the use of AI could potentially be maximised to analyse patients’ diseases. “At the very least, to help our patients analyse diseases and so forth, just to bridge the gap, Sir,” she said.