By: Budi Wicaksono )*
The government has shown a real commitment to expanding access to affordable and quality health care by strengthening basic service infrastructure at the village level. One of the strategic steps that is currently in the spotlight is the establishment of the Village Pharmacy, a program integrated into the large scheme of the Red and White Village/Sub-district Cooperative. This initiative is not just an additional program, but is part of a fundamental transformation in building the health independence of village communities.
The idea of Village Pharmacy received strong support from President Prabowo Subianto who placed the health sector as the main pillar of grassroots development. In the president’s direction, village cooperatives should not stop at the administrative stage alone, but must actively run business units that directly touch the needs of the community. Therefore, the presence of village pharmacies and clinics under the auspices of cooperatives is an important element that cannot be ignored.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Sudaryono, as the Advisory Board of DPP PAPDESI, explicitly described how the president wants village cooperatives to have concrete business lines, including the provision of cheap basic necessities, clinics, and village pharmacies that sell affordable medicines. This idea, according to Sudaryono, not only provides a solution to the gap in access to health, but also opens up new economic opportunities in rural areas.
Sudaryono highlighted that Indonesia could learn from the practice of health services in India, where drug prices could be reduced to ten percent of the price in Indonesia. The President sees this as a great opportunity that needs to be translated into real terms in the country.
The implementation of this program is strengthened by the issuance of Presidential Instruction Number 9 of 2025 concerning the Acceleration of the Establishment of Red and White Village/Sub-district Cooperatives. The instruction explicitly states that village cooperatives will run various business units, including Village Pharmacies which will be spread across around 80,000 villages and sub-districts throughout Indonesia. This legal instrument is an important foundation for ensuring the sustainability of the program and cross-sector involvement.
Chairman of the Indonesian Pharmacists Association, apt. Noffendri Roestam, gave serious attention to the implementation of the Village Pharmacy program. He considered that this idea is very strategic in answering the problem of drug distribution which has so far been centered in big cities.
According to Noffendri, the key to the success of this program is not only in infrastructure, but also in good governance and readiness of human resources, especially pharmaceutical personnel. Professional organizations such as IAI view that the role of pharmacists must be integrated with existing systems, including health centers and integrated health posts, so that pharmaceutical services can be run effectively to remote areas.
In addition, the Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, emphasized that the country already has sufficient infrastructure capital to accelerate this program. He said that currently there are around 54,000 health facilities that can be utilized, from community health centers, assistant community health centers, to integrated health posts. The approach taken by the government is integrative, by connecting existing health services with the Merah Putih cooperative unit. This is considered much more efficient than building a new system from scratch.
The Ministry of Health itself has calculated the basic needs to form one village clinic and pharmacy unit. Each unit is estimated to require two health workers, two health cadres, and additional pharmaceutical workers. In fact, the ministry said that to build a pharmacy and clinic building, a budget of around one billion rupiah per unit is needed.
In 2025, the allocated budget reaches 700 billion rupiah, enough to build around 700 village pharmacies and clinics. This is concrete evidence that the government is not only talking about it, but also allocating resources to make it happen.
However, the implementation of this program cannot be separated from challenges. One of them is that there are still around 29,000 villages that do not have a Village/Sub-district Health Service Unit (UPKD/K). In addition, there are more than 5,800 service units that have been severely damaged. The government has set this as a priority in the National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN). Repairs and construction of new units will be accelerated through cross-ministerial synergy, such as the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Cooperatives, Ministry of Villages, and Ministry of Home Affairs.
The integration steps being designed not only cover physical and service aspects, but also sustainable business models. The government realizes that village clinics and pharmacies must have a healthy commercial orientation without abandoning their function as public services. Therefore, these health units will be directed to be able to serve the basic needs of village communities such as treating common diseases, while selling essential medicines at affordable prices. Thus, the community will no longer depend on city health facilities which are often far away and expensive.
The presence of Village Pharmacies is not merely a form of additional health services, but rather a major strategy to strengthen village independence in the health sector. By integrating these services into village cooperatives, the government is also creating a resilient local economic mechanism. This model is expected to create new jobs, improve the quality of life, and accelerate the distribution of health services.
With a clear regulatory foundation, strong budget support, and active participation from health workers, the Village Pharmacy program is a real symbol of the government’s determination to build from the periphery. Under the leadership of President Prabowo Subianto, the direction of national development is now increasingly reaching villages as the epicenter of transformation. Through these real steps, village health independence is no longer a dream, but a reality that continues to be brought closer.
)* The author is a public policy observer
