As COVID-19 cases surge in Indonesia, doctors are using telemedicine solutions to treat patients both at hospitals and online. Due to a lack of medical staff and protective gear, and under 4,000 hospital beds for seriously ill COVID-19 patients in an archipelago of 270 million people, the use of healthtech seems particularly adapted to the challenges faced by Indonesia.
To lessen the pressure on hospitals and to provide healthcare access, the Indonesian government has been directing the public to telehealth companies such as Alodokter, Halodoc and GrabHealth. Indonesia’s virus task force added links on its website to 20 telehealth services and created a “digital call center” to direct traffic. As a result, usage of these solutions that provide verified medical guidance, free doctor consultations via video, telephone or text, and medication prescriptions and deliveries has exploded since the outbreak. Alodokter registered 32 million website visitors in March and over 500,000 free coronavirus consultations since March 2, while GrabHealth said daily consultations had nearly doubled to 10,000.
Overall, the COVID-19 crisis highlights the promises of healthtech in Indonesia, where healthcare access, regional disparity and infrastrucure have been the main challenges for the government to extend healthcare services to the population.
(Source: Business World)
