Healthcare in Bali for a foreign resident: patient rights, emergencies, medicines

This page is for a foreigner who lives in Bali, or plans to, and wants to know how the health system works as the written law describes it: where care is given, what a hospital must do in an emergency, what rights a patient has, how to complain, which medicines may be brought in, and who may practise as a foreign doctor. It is general information, not legal advice and not medical advice.

The main texts are the Health Law (UU 17/2023 of 8 August 2023) and its implementing Government Regulation (PP 28/2024 of 26 July 2024), read with ministerial regulations on medical records (Permenkes 24/2022), hospitals (Permenkes 6/2026), disease control and immunisation (Permenkes 3/2026) and the integrated emergency system (Permenkes 19/2016), and with BPOM and customs texts for medicines. Each statement gives the article. Where the texts are silent, or differ, the page says so.

Not covered here: which hospital, clinic or doctor to choose, prices, treatment, travel insurance and medical evacuation, and national health insurance (BPJS), which the page on health insurance sets out. The page names no hospital, clinic, doctor or company. Where it says that no text says something, that is a statement about the texts we read, listed in the sources of each section; it is not a statement about how an office or a hospital acts, which can differ.

The Health Law, UU 17/2023 of 8 August 2023, replaced the hospital law (UU 44/2009), the medical practice law (UU 29/2004), the health law of 2009 (UU 36/2009), the health personnel law (UU 36/2014) and several others (Pasal 454). PP 28/2024 of 26 July 2024 carries it out and repealed, among others, the regulations on health facilities (PP 47/2016), on hospitals (PP 47/2021) and on pharmacy work (PP 51/2009) (Pasal 1170).

The law speaks of "every person" (setiap orang), an individual or a corporation (Pasal 1 angka 37), and of a patient, anyone who receives care from a doctor or health worker (Pasal 1 angka 23). The rights in Pasal 4 and 276 and in PP 28/2024 Pasal 737 name no nationality and no stay permit, and a hospital must serve patients without distinction of race, religion, ethnic group, gender, economic ability, special needs or disability, or social and political background (PP 28/2024 Pasal 835(1) huruf d). The law uses the words warga negara asing (WNA, a foreign national) only for practitioners (Pasal 246 to 257), never for patients.

Every person must join the national health insurance scheme (UU 17/2023 Pasal 5(1) huruf f). Whether and how that reaches a foreigner who does not work is the question that the page on health insurance sets out; it is not repeated here.

The Constitutional Court has decided cases on UU 17/2023 (182/PUU-XXII/2024, 111/PUU-XXII/2024 and 49/PUU-XXII/2024, as the BPK database lists them). They concern the Health Council, the Colleges of the professions, professional standards, professional organisations, supervision and the education of health students. None of the articles cited on this page is among them. They may affect how the competence certificate of a foreign practitioner is issued, which we did not check.

The law sorts health facilities into three kinds: first level (primary care), advanced level (specialist care) and supporting facilities (UU 17/2023 Pasal 165(2)). First-level facilities are the Puskesmas (public health centre), the klinik pratama (primary clinic) and the independent practice of a doctor or other health worker (Pasal 167(2)). Advanced facilities are the hospital, the klinik utama (main clinic, which gives specialist care), the balai kesehatan and independent practice (Pasal 168). Supporting facilities include pharmacies, health laboratories, blood units and opticians (PP 28/2024 Pasal 764(3)).

A Puskesmas runs and coordinates promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative care in its working area, with the stress on prevention and promotion (PP 28/2024 Pasal 793(1)). The district or city government sets one up in every kecamatan (Pasal 803(1)). For a foreigner who is a BPJS member, the Puskesmas can be the registered first-level facility (page on health insurance). Outside membership, we found no text that says whether a foreigner may use a Puskesmas or at what charge.

A hospital gives specialist and sub-specialist care and may also give basic care (PP 28/2024 Pasal 809). A static (permanent) hospital provides inpatient care, outpatient care and an emergency unit (Permenkes 6/2026 Pasal 3(2)), and emergency care is given 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (Pasal 17(2)). A hospital set up by a private party may be a domestic-investment or a foreign-investment (PMA) hospital (Pasal 2(6)); a foreign-investment hospital needs at least 50 inpatient beds and at least one service in the comprehensive class, or at least 200 beds and two such services, with an exception for investment in a hospital group (Pasal 10(2), (10), (11)).

The classes A, B, C and D of the older rules are gone. Permenkes 6/2026 on hospitals, in force since 12 June 2026, repealed Permenkes 3/2020 on classification and licensing (Pasal 84 huruf q). It classifies a hospital by what it is able to do, for each group of services, as paripurna (comprehensive), utama, madya or dasar (basic) (Pasal 12(1) to (3)). Hospitals have at most two years from 12 June 2026 to adjust (Pasal 83 huruf a), so a hospital may still describe itself by an old class for a time; that is our reading, not a rule.

Every health facility must hold a business licence (UU 17/2023 Pasal 165(5); PP 28/2024 Pasal 768(1)). Every facility must publish the list of names, STR and SIP numbers and practice hours of its doctors and health workers (PP 28/2024 Pasal 772(1); UU 17/2023 Pasal 283(2)), and a facility may not use a worker who has no practice licence (UU 17/2023 Pasal 173(3), 284). Hospital quality is to be assured through registration, licence and accreditation (PP 28/2024 Pasal 835(2)). The Ministry's RS Online site shows hospital information in maps and charts, and its SIRANAP page the beds available in hospitals (page read on 6 October 2026); we did not check what they list for Bali.

Every facility must run a referral system (PP 28/2024 Pasal 773). How referral works for a member of BPJS is set out on the page on health insurance.

A health facility owned by the central government, a regional government or a private party must give care to a person in an emergency, putting saving life and preventing disability first (UU 17/2023 Pasal 174(1)). An emergency is a clinical state of the patient that needs medical or psychological action at once to save life and prevent disability (Pasal 1 angka 24). In an emergency the facility may not refuse the patient or ask for a deposit, and may not put administrative matters first so that care is delayed (Pasal 174(2); PP 28/2024 Pasal 836(2) says the same of hospitals).

The duty also falls on the people: doctors and health workers in a facility must give first aid to a patient in an emergency (UU 17/2023 Pasal 275(1)), and those who give care to save life or prevent disability in an emergency are exempt from claims for damages (Pasal 275(2)). A hospital must give emergency care according to what it is able to do (PP 28/2024 Pasal 833 huruf c), through an emergency unit with triage and life-saving action (Pasal 836(1)). The social function of a hospital, which the Regulation says includes among other things care for poor patients, emergency care without a deposit and a free ambulance, is in Pasal 833 huruf f.

If a patient who cannot give consent needs emergency treatment and nobody can be asked, no consent is needed; the treatment follows the best interest of the patient as decided by the staff, and the patient or the representative is told afterwards (UU 17/2023 Pasal 293(9) to (11)). The right to refuse treatment does not apply to an unconscious person or in an emergency (Pasal 4(3) huruf c).

A head of a health facility, a doctor or a health worker who does not give first aid to a patient in an emergency faces prison of up to 2 years or a fine (UU 17/2023 Pasal 438(1)); if disability or death results, the head of the facility faces prison of up to 10 years or a fine (Pasal 438(2)). UU 1/2026 restated the fines in the categories of the Criminal Code: category III, Rp50,000,000, for Pasal 438(1) and category VI, Rp2,000,000,000, for Pasal 438(2) (Lampiran I nomor 181; UU 1/2023 Pasal 79(1)). Older sources still quote the former Rp200,000,000 for Pasal 438(1).

The texts say what the facility may not do. They do not say who pays the bill after the emergency. For a member of BPJS, the page on health insurance sets out how emergency care is covered. For a foreigner who is not a member, we found no text on who pays.

On Nyepi, the 2026 joint appeal of the province asked, from 06:00 WITA on 19 March to 06:00 WITA on 20 March 2026, that transport providers not operate, that mobile data be switched off "while keeping emergency communication services in mind", and that residents and visitors stay at home. It names no hospital or ambulance. The appeal for 2027 (Nyepi falls on 8 March 2027) was not out when we looked. The page on the calendar holds the dates.

Every doctor and health worker who gives individual care must make a medical record, and where the care is in a facility other than an independent practice the facility is responsible for it (UU 17/2023 Pasal 296(1), (2); PP 28/2024 Pasal 777, 778). The record holds your identity, examinations, treatment, procedures and other care, including your consent (PP 28/2024 Pasal 778(3)). It must be completed promptly once the care ends, and each entry carries the name, time and signature of the person who gave the care (UU 17/2023 Pasal 296(3), (4)).

The record document belongs to the facility, and you have the right to access the information in it (UU 17/2023 Pasal 297(1), (2); PP 28/2024 Pasal 784). Records must be kept electronically (PP 28/2024 Pasal 779(1)); a paper record is allowed while a technical obstacle lasts (Pasal 779(2)). A facility must keep an electronic record for at least 25 years from your last visit (Permenkes 24/2022 Pasal 39(1)). The same regulation requires a facility to open the whole content of its electronic records to the Ministry of Health (Pasal 28(1)), which may use them to process health data (Pasal 28(2), (3)).

Opening the content of a record to others needs your consent when it is for your care, for your own request, or for administration, insurance or payment (for the last, through a general consent given at registration); the request must be in writing and limited to what is needed (PP 28/2024 Pasal 783(1) to (5), (10)). If you cannot consent, your closest family or your guardian may (Pasal 783(6), (7)). Without your consent, a record may be opened for law enforcement on request, outbreak or disaster control, limited teaching and research, protection of others from danger, and other purposes set in law (Pasal 783(11)). Secrecy continues after death (Pasal 785).

A patient or family who tells the public the content of the record through mass media is treated as having waived secrecy, and the facility may then disclose the content of the record in reply (Permenkes 24/2022 Pasal 38). The text says "mass media"; whether a post on social media is meant we did not find.

About a doctor or health worker. A patient or the family whose interest is harmed by an act of a doctor or health worker may complain to the professional discipline council that the Minister sets up and that decides whether there was a breach of professional discipline (UU 17/2023 Pasal 304(2), (3), 305(1)). The complaint must give the complainant's identity, the name and address of the practice place and the time of the act, and the reasons (Pasal 305(2)). The sanctions include a written warning, compulsory training, a temporary suspension of the STR and a recommendation to withdraw the SIP (Pasal 306(1)). The decision can be reviewed by the Minister on new evidence, a mistake in applying the discipline rules or a conflict of interest (Pasal 307).

Before a doctor or health worker can be investigated for an act in giving care that may be a crime, or answer a civil claim of a patient for harm, the council's recommendation must be asked for. It is given within at most 14 working days of a written request, and if the council does not give it in time it is treated as having recommended an investigation (UU 17/2023 Pasal 308(1) to (8)). This does not apply to a crime unrelated to giving care (Pasal 308(9)). A dispute over harm that a professional mistake caused must first be settled through alternative dispute resolution outside court (Pasal 310).

About a hospital. A complaint about a hospital as such goes to the central or regional government that issued its licence. It must be in writing, with an account of the facts that can be traced, and give the complainant's identity, the full name and address of the hospital, the kind of breach, the time, the chronology and the facts, data or signs of the breach; the complainant's identity must be kept secret (PP 28/2024 Pasal 857(2), 858). The government examines the report (Pasal 861), and the central government can impose a verbal warning, a written warning, an administrative fine or withdrawal of the licence (Pasal 856(3)). For the breaches of some duties of Permenkes 6/2026 the Minister, governor or district head forms an ad hoc panel to follow up (Pasal 81, 82).

The Ministry of Health's press release of 5 October 2024 names the hotline Halo Kemenkes, 1500-567, for further information. We did not confirm that it takes complaints about a given hospital.

Complaints about BPJS or a private insurer are on the page on health insurance, and the page on disputes describes the Ombudsman for the conduct of public offices.

Ask for the numbers. A facility must publish the names, STR and SIP numbers and schedules of its practitioners, foreign or Indonesian (PP 28/2024 Pasal 772(1)); a doctor in independent practice must show his numbers (UU 17/2023 Pasal 283(1)).

Where the two texts differ. UU 17/2023 Pasal 246 sets for a foreigner who graduated in Indonesia only the STR, the SIP and the time limit at the facility's request. PP 28/2024 Pasal 660(2) says such a foreigner may practise only as a specialist, a sub-specialist or a health worker of the certain level. We state both and do not decide which prevails.

What we did not find. The texts do not say whether a doctor who is abroad may treat a person in Bali by telemedicine. They say only that telemedicine by a facility is done by practitioners who hold a practice licence (UU 17/2023 Pasal 172(4)).

Goods that a passenger brings in must be declared to customs (PMK 203/PMK.04/2017 Pasal 9(1), as amended by PMK 34/2025, in force since 6 June 2025). A passenger who carries narcotics, psychotropics, precursors or medicines goes through the red lane, where the goods are physically inspected (Pasal 17(1) huruf a angka 3). Goods under an import ban or restriction are dealt with under the rules on bans and restrictions (Pasal 18(1) huruf b). BPOM's page tells you to say on the customs declaration that you carry medicines, and to show a doctor's prescription if you are asked. Medicine that does not meet the rules may be destroyed or sent back (BPOM 27/2022 Pasal 43(4)).

BPOM wrote on 17 July 2026 that field staff handle personal-use medicine case by case, with the patient's life first, and that customs keeps the power in the customs area to release or hold the goods. It also named that the control of baggage now follows BPOM 28/2023.

A conflict of records. The BPK database marks BPOM 27/2022 "Tidak Berlaku" (not in force) without naming a replacing text, while it lists BPOM 28/2023 as an amendment of it and as in force. BPOM's own pages of 2026 treat the pair as the current rule. We follow BPOM, and we found no replacing text.

Medicines are either with prescription or without (UU 17/2023 Pasal 320(1)). Medicines with prescription are obat keras (strong medicines, those that carry a risk, a potential for abuse or are given in a certain way), narcotics and psychotropics (Pasal 320(2); PP 28/2024 Pasal 917(5), 918). They are handed out by a pharmacist at a pharmacy on a prescription, which is a request from a doctor to the pharmacist, on paper or electronic (UU 17/2023 Pasal 320(3); PP 28/2024 Pasal 917(3), (4), 922(1)). Medicines without prescription are obat bebas (over the counter) and obat bebas terbatas (restricted over the counter, in limited quantity and with a warning) (UU 17/2023 Pasal 320(4); PP 28/2024 Pasal 919).

A pharmacist may hand out some strong medicines without a prescription, in limited indication or quantity, when they are for self-treatment, for a chronic illness on a repeat prescription or for topical use, from a list set by the Minister (UU 17/2023 Pasal 320(5); PP 28/2024 Pasal 922(2) to (5)). The packaging of a medicine must show the special sign of its class (PP 28/2024 Pasal 920(2)). Medicine with narcotics or psychotropics may be used only on a doctor's prescription and must not be abused (UU 17/2023 Pasal 139(2)).

We did not find whether a pharmacy must accept a prescription written by a doctor abroad. PP 28/2024 Pasal 917(4) defines a prescription as a request from a Tenaga Medis, and the texts do not say whether a foreign doctor counts.

Immunisation under the national programme (imunisasi program) is the immunisation that the government requires of individuals or communities; immunisation outside the programme (imunisasi mandiri) is what a person obtains for his own health needs (Permenkes 3/2026 Pasal 8(2) to (4)). Permenkes 3/2026 has been in force since 11 March 2026. The programme has routine immunisation, given by stage of life to infants, children under 2, primary school children, adolescents, adults and the elderly; additional immunisation for the groups most at risk; and immunisation of travellers (Pasal 11(1) to (6)). The Minister sets the antigens and the schedule (Pasal 10(1)), and a person who has not completed routine immunisation must be given catch-up immunisation (Pasal 11(3)). Routine and additional immunisation are free of charge; at a private facility a charge at its tariff is allowed, except for the vaccine and other supplies that the government provides (Pasal 12).

Permenkes 3/2026 repealed Pasal 11(4) and Pasal 36 and the annex of the earlier immunisation regulation, Permenkes 12/2017, and, as we read Pasal 98, keeps the rest of it in force as long as it does not conflict with the new one (Pasal 98 huruf r, 99 huruf r). The BPK database marks Permenkes 12/2017 "Tidak Berlaku" without that nuance.

We found no immunisation requirement in the school admission texts we read (Permendikdasmen 3/2025 and 14/2026, Permendikbud 31/2014). The page on schools and kindergartens sets out which schools a foreign child can attend, and the page on a child born in Bali the child's papers. Whether a foreign child is entitled to the free programme, or bound by it, is not said in the texts we read.

To a hospital or clinic, before a planned treatment: Which licence and accreditation do you hold? Where is the list of your doctors with their STR and SIP numbers? What will the treatment cost, in writing, before it starts? May I have the diagnosis, the risks, the alternatives and the risk of not treating explained in a language I understand? May I ask for a second opinion? May I have a copy of my record?

To the doctor: What is your STR and SIP number? If you are a foreign doctor, which facility asked for you?

To the facility after an emergency: What is the bill, and who is billed? Which statement of care do I receive? Keep every receipt and every written answer.

To BPOM before you travel (Halo BPOM 1500533 or WhatsApp 0812-1298-7545, as BPOM gives them; the BPOM page also gives the address was.sas.bbo@pom.go.id): May I bring this medicine, in this quantity, with my prescription? For a psychotropic or narcotic medicine: is it allowed for me, which papers do I need, and for how many days? Please confirm in writing.

To customs on arrival: I carry medicines and declare them; here is my prescription and the form. Ask for any decision to hold the goods in writing.

Whether a foreigner who is not a BPJS member may use a Puskesmas, and on what charge; and whether a person who pays for himself needs a referral to enter a hospital. The texts we read on referral concern the facility's duty (PP 28/2024 Pasal 773) and the insurance scheme.

Who pays the bill after an emergency when the patient is a foreigner who is not a member of BPJS, and where the facility's duty to treat ends.

Whether "language that is easy to understand" (PP 28/2024 Pasal 737(3)) means a language the foreign patient understands, and whether a facility must provide an interpreter. No text we read says.

How Permenkes 24/2022 (2022) fits with PP 28/2024 (2024) on the conditions for opening a record without the patient's consent (the ministerial rule asks the Minister's approval, except on a court order, Pasal 36); and whether a post on social media is "mass media" under Permenkes 24/2022 Pasal 38.

The ministerial regulation on the procedure of consent (UU 17/2023 Pasal 293(12)), and the ministerial rules that follow Permenkes 6/2026 on the classification of hospitals (Pasal 12(4)): not read. We did not check which Bali hospitals have been reclassified.

Whether PP 28/2024 Pasal 660(2) can narrow UU 17/2023 Pasal 246 for a foreigner who graduated in Indonesia; whether a doctor abroad may treat a person in Bali by telemedicine; and how the Constitutional Court decisions on the Colleges affect the competence certificate of a foreign practitioner.

Medicines: the status of BPOM 27/2022 in the BPK database against BPOM's own pages; the conflict between Pasal 41(3) (3 days) and Lampiran III (pieces) for medicine without a prescription; the legal text behind the psychotropic rule (foreigners only, 60 days, by hand only); UU 35/2009 Pasal 53 against BPOM's statement that narcotic medicines may not be brought in; the Minister's lists of narcotics and psychotropics (BPOM links them as files on a private file store, which we did not use).

Immunisation: the Minister's technical guidance with the antigens and the schedule (Permenkes 3/2026 Pasal 10, 96) was not found; whether a foreign child is entitled to free routine immunisation or bound by it; the status of Permenkes 12/2017.

Whether the ministry hotline takes complaints about a hospital, and which complaint desks the Bali provincial and district health offices keep. We did not search the rules of the Bali government on health facilities systematically.