Law No. 17 of 2023 concerning Health

This Act establishes the comprehensive legal framework for the national health system in Indonesia, aimed at ensuring the fulfillment of the constitutional right to health and achieving the highest possible standard of public health. The instrument integrates multiple previously separate health-related legislations into a unified law to transform health efforts, health resources, and health management. Its primary objectives focus on strengthening health resilience, improving the quality and equity of health services, enhancing disease prevention and control, and optimizing the management of health human resources and financing.
The Act defines the scope of comprehensive health efforts, explicitly identifying nutrition as a core component of health implementation alongside family health, mental health, and disease control. It mandates policy measures to improve public nutrition through the promotion of healthy diets and the mitigation of risk factors associated with non-communicable diseases, including the regulation of excessive sugar, salt, and fat intake in food products. Responsible authorities are tasked with establishing food safety and quality standards, managing nutritional interventions, and ensuring food security measures that protect public health from contaminants and nutritional deficiencies.
Provisions regarding environmental health vest responsibility in the government to ensure a healthy environment, which encompasses the management of safe water supply, basic sanitation, and environmental health risks. Furthermore, the Act regulates the management of infectious disease outbreaks and extraordinary events (KLB) by strengthening public health surveillance, epidemiological investigations, risk assessment, and response mechanisms. This outbreak preparedness framework provides the legal basis for inter-sectoral coordination between human health, animal health, and environmental authorities to address transboundary health hazards, including zoonotic diseases, under an integrated approach.
The administrative and operational aspects of the law outline the governance, restructuring, and responsibilities of central and local government institutions, healthcare facilities, and professional councils. It details mandatory compliance procedures, including the registration and licensing of medical and health personnel, hospital accreditations, and international cooperation mechanisms for health technology transfer. Finally, the instrument prescribes administrative sanctions, enforcement tools, and criminal penalties for offenses related to medical malpractice, the distribution of illegal pharmaceutical sediaans, and non-compliance during public health emergencies.