Health Minister Pushes for Drug Price Transparency at Hospitals

JAKARTA – Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin is urging transparency in drug pricing across all hospitals in Indonesia as an initial measure to improve pharmaceutical industry governance and healthcare service delivery.

According to him, the government must make pricing information publicly available so that citizens can learn about and compare drug and healthcare service prices at various health facilities.

“The first thing we want to do is ensure transparency. So price transparency must happen. We need to know what medicine costs at hospital A, at hospital B, and even compared to prices in Malaysia,” said Budi at Dharmais Cancer Hospital in Jakarta on Monday, 16 March 2026.

“When it comes to petrol prices or drink prices, they are displayed everywhere so people can compare. You can check the price of coffee at one place versus another. Well, we want the same thing to happen with healthcare services,” Budi added.

Budi believes that with open pricing, citizens can compare healthcare costs and quality more objectively.

Budi hopes this measure will also stimulate healthy competition among hospitals and healthcare providers, ultimately bringing down medicine and service prices for the public.