Adequate Human Resources for Health (HRH) arecrucial to the delivery of health care services in very remote areasof Indonesia. However, very remote areas suffer shortages interms the number, type and quality of staff. This situation mustbe addressed through innovative policy, planning andimplementation, such as incentives for retaining and motivatinghealth workers. This paper aims to assess the application of anincentive scheme based on working location. The role ofdecentralized local government on incentives given to healthworkers also will be discussed. A desk study was performed froma relevant published materials, MoH database and onlineliterature. The document highlights the importance of financialand non financial incentives. However, financial incentives aloneare insufficient to retain and motivate the health workforce.Incentive systems must be integrated within the health system, inline with the goal and objective of Indonesia’s healthdevelopment. The role of local leadership under decentralizationis also crucial to motivate and maintain staff in the workplace.Different incentives between contracted and permanent staff invery remote areas must be established to ensure sustainability ofthe program
