Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto said his administration will prioritize state-funded scholarships for medical students to address Indonesia’s shortage of doctors and specialists.

Speaking at the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday, Prabowo said Indonesia faces a deficit of more than 140,000 general practitioners and thousands of medical specialists, a gap that threatens the government’s goal of expanding healthcare access across the archipelago.

“We are short of more than 140,000 general practitioners and thousands of specialists,” Prabowo said. “This is a major challenge for our nation.”

The president said the shortage of medical professionals is not unique to Indonesia, pointing to similar problems in advanced economies such as the United Kingdom and Germany. However, he said those countries have managed to offset the shortage by recruiting doctors from abroad, an option Indonesia cannot easily replicate.

“The UK faces a massive doctor shortage, and they bring in doctors from everywhere, Western Europe, America, even Asia because they can pay high salaries. That’s the challenge we face,” he said.

To address the gap, Prabowo instructed his ministers to expand and refocus scholarships from the state-managed education endowment fund, known as LPDP, to support medical students. “If necessary, we will increase the number of LPDP scholarships, with the top priority given to medical education,” he said.

Prabowo also called for adjustments to national education policies to better align with Indonesia’s healthcare needs, including increasing enrollment quotas for medical schools.

The LPDP currently plans to cap the number of scholarship recipients at 4,000 for both 2025 and 2026, a reduction from recent years, due to a surge in scholarship grants during 2023 and 2024, when the government expanded access to higher education.

The government has allocated Rp 15 trillion for postgraduate scholarships under the 2026 state budget, up from Rp 11.85 trillion in realized spending in 2024. As of Sept. 30, LPDP had spent Rp 7.46 trillion this year.

According to LPDP data, 9,358 students received scholarships in 2023 from 33,396 applicants, and 8,592 students were selected in 2024 from 52,842 applicants. For 2025, the program expects to award scholarships to 4,000 recipients out of a record 78,000 applicants.