Health Minister Calls for Improved Budget Blocking Governance
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has called for the budget blocking mechanism to be reformed. Budi revealed that the Ministry of Health’s budget realisation in 2025 reached only 42.9 per cent, the lowest in history.
He made the remarks during a working meeting with Commission IX of the House of Representatives (DPR) at the DPR building in Senayan, Jakarta, on Monday (20/7/2026). According to him, the low realisation occurred because Rp12.3 trillion of the budget was blocked and therefore could not be used.
“The Ministry of Health’s achievement in 2025 was indeed the lowest in history, 42.9 per cent. Why? Because the budget we were given had Rp12.3 trillion blocked. So the funds could not be used. We were given a budget, but we could not use it, we could not disburse it,” Budi said.
“If we remove the blocked amount from the figures, realisation is actually still above 90 per cent, that is 93 per cent. That is still better than 2022,” he continued.
He explained that the largest budget blocks occurred in the advanced health programme, primary health care, the Directorate General of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices, and the disease prevention and control (P2P) programme. He said the blocking resulted in the low realisation.
He then requested that the budget blocking mechanism be reformed. According to him, blocked budgets should no longer be counted as funds already allocated to the ministry.
“Going forward, we also want to be more open with the Ministry of Finance. If funds are blocked, don’t say the budget was given. It would be better to withdraw them in June if that’s what you want. So it shouldn’t appear as though the budget is large when we cannot use it,” he explained.
“Because even part of our absorption was somewhat delayed since the block was only lifted in November, so we had no time to realise that budget,” he continued.
He also asked the Ministry of Finance to improve the governance of budget blocking so that a similar situation does not recur. He said that if a budget will not be used, the decision should be made no later than June or September.
“If it really must be withdrawn, that’s fine. But if possible, withdraw it in June, or withdraw it in September, so that our colleagues in Commission IX of the DPR also understand, because we cannot routinely update them on what is blocked or not,” Budi said.
“So I ask that if funds genuinely cannot be withdrawn, please take them out of our budget in June or September, so our colleagues in the DPR also understand,” he added.