Budi Gunadi Responds to Finance Minister Rumour: I'm Still Health Minister!

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has spoken out regarding circulating rumours that he will become Finance Minister, replacing Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa. Regarding the matter, Budi emphasised that as of now, he still serves as Health Minister. He conveyed this after meeting President Prabowo Subianto at the Presidential Palace Complex in Central Jakarta on Tuesday, 9 June 2026. “Currently I’m still the Health Minister,” Budi told reporters. When asked whether he was ready if appointed by Prabowo as Finance Minister, Budi was reluctant to respond seriously, despite many members of the public touting his name for the post. “It seems I’ve rather forgotten,” he explained. Meanwhile, Budi revealed the results of his discussion with President Prabowo. “Tomorrow he’s invited me to Krui, West Lampung. Do you want to come? To inaugurate a hospital,” Budi disclosed. Prabowo also requested a progress report from Budi regarding the Free Health Check-up programme, tuberculosis handling, and the acceleration of construction for 66 hospitals in underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost regions. “So I was asked for an update. First, the free health check-ups, second, tuberculosis, and the 66 hospitals. And those have already been completed. 20 have been operationalised, 12 are running. So he said, ‘Alright, I want to see it.’ So perhaps the plan is that he wants to visit,” he concluded.