By: Gavin Asadit )*
The Government of the Republic of Indonesia in 2025 launched a major program aimed at realizing social justice in the health sector, namely the Village Pharmacy program. This policy is an implementation of Presidential Instruction (Inpres) Number 9 of 2025 concerning the acceleration of equal distribution of basic services through strengthening the Red and White Village and Sub-district Cooperatives.
By targeting almost 80,000 villages and sub-districts throughout Indonesia, this program is expected to be able to close the gap in access to health services between urban and rural areas.
According to data from the Ministry of Health, by early June 2025 there were around 54,000 village health facilities such as Assistant Health Centers (Pustu), Village Health Posts (Poskesdes), and Posyandu that have the potential to be developed into Village Pharmacies or Village Clinics. The government is targeting to utilize these facilities as the forerunner of more structured and professional health service units, under the management of the Red and White Cooperative. This is believed to be a form of strengthening basic services based on community independence and the local economy.
To support this program, the government has allocated a budget of Rp700 billion in 2025. The funds will be used to build at least 700 village pharmacies and clinics with an estimated cost of around Rp1 billion per unit. The costs include physical construction, provision of medical devices, and logistics facilities such as warehouses and drug transport trucks.
The concept of the Village Pharmacy service is not only focused on providing quality generic drugs at affordable prices, but also includes the provision of basic health services such as treatment of common diseases, management of HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria programs, as well as the provision of light health products such as vitamins, supplements, and simple medical devices. According to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin, the Village Pharmacy will also be a health education center for village communities, where residents can consult directly about the correct use of drugs and disease prevention.
One of the main advantages of the Village Pharmacy is the ability to provide generic drugs at prices much cheaper than pharmacies in big cities. In some cases, the price of drugs at the Village Pharmacy is only around 10% to 33% of the market price in urban areas. This is possible because the procurement scheme is carried out collectively through village cooperatives that work directly with drug manufacturers, and receive distribution support from the central government.
However, the implementation of this program faces several challenges, especially related to the availability of professional pharmacists. Currently, only around 68% of Health Centers in Indonesia have permanent pharmacists. The rest still rely on vocational pharmacy personnel or non-pharmacy personnel who do not have adequate qualifications in pharmacy management. Therefore, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Indonesian Pharmacists Association (IAI) is encouraging the recruitment of new pharmacists, including opening PPPK (Government Employees with Work Agreements) formations specifically for pharmacists in villages.
The General Chairperson of IAI, Noffendri Roestam, said that his party fully supports this program on the condition that there is certainty of pharmacist placement in every village pharmacy. IAI also suggested that village cooperatives create a quality control system, routine training, and ensure that pharmacy management is carried out in accordance with the code of ethics of the pharmacy profession. Noffendri also reminded village cooperatives not to mix public service functions and business orientation carelessly, because it is feared that it could reduce the quality of public health services.
Previously, the Chairperson of the PP-IAI Public Health Pharmacy Seminary Association Maria Ulfah said that the village pharmacy program was an extraordinary momentum to fulfill pharmacists in health centers. Because based on research conducted in 2023, only 68 percent of the 10,300 health centers had pharmacists. The rest are still filled by Pharmacy Vocational Personnel (TVF) or other health workers.
To ensure smooth distribution of drugs to all corners of the country, the government has prepared an integrated logistics system. Each village cooperative will have two operational vehicles and a storage warehouse with refrigeration facilities. This aims to maintain the availability and quality of drugs, especially in remote areas with limited transportation access. The government is also exploring cooperation with state-owned pharmaceutical companies such as Bio Farma to provide generic drugs at subsidized prices.
Despite the challenges, the Village Pharmacy program is considered a major leap in the history of national health services. If implemented consistently and in a coordinated manner, the Village Pharmacy will have a major impact on equalizing access to health services, reducing the burden of household health costs, empowering local workers, and encouraging village economic growth. In addition, this initiative is also a form of sustainable response after the COVID-19 pandemic that emphasizes the importance of strengthening primary health services and the independence of the national health system.
The government believes that health is a basic right of every citizen, and the village is the starting point for inclusive public services. Therefore, the presence of the Village Pharmacy is expected not only to be a solution to limited access to medicine, but also to be a symbol of the state’s commitment to ensuring comprehensive social justice. With the support of all parties, central and regional governments, cooperatives, pharmacists, and the community, this program has the potential to fundamentally transform the face of Indonesian health services.
Village Pharmacy is not just a health infrastructure development program, but a social movement that aims to re-humanize basic services at the grassroots level.
)* The author is an observer of social and community issues
