August 6, 2026 | 09:33 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin emphasized that healthcare workers, as public servants, must not lack empathy, particularly towards sick patients.
"I think all professions that serve the public, especially healthcare workers, should not be lacking empathy like that," Budi said when met at the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs Office in Jakarta on Thursday.
Budi made this statement in response to insensitive comments posted by several healthcare workers on a social media thread created by a patient using national healthcare assurance BPJS Kesehatan.
During a previous press conference at the Ministry of Health Office in Jakarta on Wednesday, August 5, the Minister also conveyed his condolences while highlighting the crucial need to steadily elevate the quality of national healthcare services.
He hopes BPJS Kesehatan will continue to increase life expectancy from 72 to 76 years.
"Every time someone dies, my heart breaks, especially when they die young. As Minister of Health, I feel like a failure. Why do our friends die so young? We should always strive to provide the best possible service. There are shortcomings, but we are constantly improving them," he explained.
The controversy originated when a BPJS patient, Yurizal, shared his frustrating experience waiting for an inpatient room on the social media platform Threads. He stated that he had been left without an assigned hospital bed after waiting for eight hours.
The post subsequently drew sharp, dismissive remarks from several accounts whose owners were later identified as healthcare workers, sparking widespread public outcry.
Reacting to the incident, Asep Rommy Romaya, a member of Commission IX of the House of Representatives (DPR), urged healthcare personnel to uphold ethical standards across digital platforms. He stressed that medical professionals retain a clear moral obligation whenever they voice opinions online.
"We remind healthcare workers that even on social media, they are still civil servants with a high moral responsibility. They must be careful when commenting or responding to issues or events because the impact can be long-lasting," he stated.
Asep added that working in healthcare represents a humanitarian calling rather than a mere vocation, meaning professionalism must be reflected consistently, both in clinical settings and across personal social media activity.
Read: How Rupiah Plunge Affects Indonesia's Pharmaceutical Industry
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