Prabowo plans air ambulances to improve healthcare in remote areas

hartono · Aug 14, 2026

Prabowo plans air ambulances to improve healthcare in remote areas

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President Prabowo Subianto delivers a speech on the 2027 Draft State Budget and its Financial Note during the first plenary session of the House of Representatives (DPR), marking the start of the 2026-2027 sitting period, in Jakarta on Friday (Aug. 14, 2026). ANTARA FOTO/Asprilla Dwi Adha/bay

Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Prabowo Subianto announced Friday that Indonesia will deploy a fleet of specialized helicopters and small aircraft to serve as air ambulances, transporting critically ill patients from isolated, hard-to-reach regions.

Delivering his 2027 State Budget address before parliament in Jakarta, Prabowo explained that the emergency aircraft will be capable of landing on unpaved terrain, including grass fields, riverbanks, and sandy beaches.

"I was informed of many mothers losing their lives after having to travel seven to nine hours for delivery," Prabowo said, emphasizing that rugged geography and crumbling road infrastructure severely delay urgent medical care.

To bridge these geographical hurdles, the government is also considering deploying mobile "flying doctor teams" to deliver specialized treatment directly to disaster-affected or remote communities.

"To address this problem, we need innovative breakthroughs, including air ambulances," Prabowo stated. "If necessary, these teams will fly directly to people suffering from severe illnesses or disasters."

Beyond emergency aviation, Prabowo outlined a broader push to bolster primary healthcare, including a program to renovate 10,000 community health centers (puskesmas) across 7,285 sub-districts starting in 2027.

Under the initiative, each health center will receive Rp4 billion ($224,000) for upgrades, alongside a parallel plan to construct diagnostic health laboratories in all 514 regencies and cities nationwide by 2030.