Reason for Indonesia's Healthcare Worker Crisis: Health Minister Reveals 1,000 Doctors Failed Competency Tests Three Times
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, has highlighted one of the key issues contributing to Indonesia’s healthcare worker crisis. He revealed a high number of doctors have failed to pass the competency tests of the Indonesian Health Council (KKI) despite taking the examinations multiple times. Notably, nearly 1,000 doctors have been recorded as having attempted the exam three times without success.
Budi shared this during a working meeting with Commission IX of the House of Representatives (DPR RI) while discussing various issues related to health education and personnel on Monday (8/6/2026). Budi stated that the issue of ‘retakers’—those repeating the exam—is one of the most frequent complaints received by the government from the medical community.
Based on the data presented, approximately 63% of retakers have taken the exam fewer than three times. However, about 37% of participants, representing nearly 1,000 doctors, have sat for the competency exam three times but have yet to pass.
Furthermore, Budi revealed that around 297 doctors have only one remaining attempt left before they lose their eligibility to pass the exam entirely. “This is a problem we are hearing from the field,” said Budi.
Budi explained that the government is in urgent need of additional doctors to meet national healthcare service requirements. According to Ministry of Health calculations, Indonesia still faces a shortage of approximately 93,200 general practitioners.
Budi noted that the high failure rate in competency tests requires collective attention. He also highlighted potential issues regarding the quality of education in several medical faculties. He suggested that competency exam pass rates should serve as evaluative feedback for medical institutions.
“We suggest that this be used as feedback. If an institution graduates many students who subsequently fail the competency exam, their student quotas should be reduced until they can truly improve their educational quality,” he said.
Additionally, the Ministry of Health has received feedback from retakers regarding ongoing costs. Budi mentioned that some participants who have not passed are still required to pay coaching and administrative fees to their universities when retaking exams.
Another suggestion received by the government is that participants who fail only specific competencies should not be required to retake the entire examination syllabus. “For example, if out of 10 competencies, 8 are passed and 2 are failed, they should only repeat the 2 they failed, not the whole set,” Budi proposed.
Budi emphasised that various inputs are currently being discussed with the Indonesian Health Council to find solutions that maintain the quality of medical graduates while providing better opportunities for those retaking competency exams.