Red and White Village Cooperatives to Be Equipped with Clinics, Pharmacies, and Cold Storage

Minister of Cooperatives Ferry Juliantono has explained that Kopdes Merah Putih village cooperatives will be equipped with clinics, pharmacies, and cold storage. The aim is to enable rural communities to access healthcare services that have previously been unevenly distributed. The availability of medicines is also challenging for rural populations, so Kopdes will provide them. However, delivering such services requires cross-ministry coordination. The Ministry of Cooperatives must coordinate with the Ministry of Health and BPJS Kesehatan. In addition to clinics, pharmacies, and cold storage, Kopdes will feature grocery outlets, cooperative offices, savings and loan units, logistics outlets, and one outlet tailored to local needs. A memorandum of understanding has been signed between Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperatives Ahmad Zabadi and BPJS Kesehatan President Director Prihati Pujowaskito regarding this collaboration. The target is for 80 million people to receive healthcare services through Kopdes. Out of 35,408 sites, 25,625 locations are in the construction phase, with only 5,714 Kopdes Merah Putih completed. He acknowledged that land readiness for construction varies. “We are continuing to survey the other lands. They will be adjusted in the next phase. Because in cities the land is expensive, some from regional or institutional lands do not meet standards, we will resolve that,” explained Zulhas, quoted from Kontan on Monday (20/4/2026). There are 35,476 job vacancies, consisting of 30,000 for Kopdes Merah Putih manager positions under PT Agrinas Pangan Nusantara, and the remaining 5,476 as Kopdes employees. “So a total of 383,830 have registered, we state that the registration is open, transparent, honest, and no one is guaranteed acceptance, it’s open as is,” said Zulhas.