Indonesia leans on healthtech startups to cope with virus surge
Rose Nor
Doctor Mohammad Risandi Priatama, 26, has treated 10 people with COVID-19 symptoms over the past month at a busy West Java hospital in a designated virus "red zone" - and provided consultation for scores more through the app Alodokter.
As coronavirus cases surge in Indonesia, doctors are working double-time treating patients both at hospitals and online through healthtech startups - an approach that is quickly becoming part of the national healthcare system.
Doctor Mohammad Risandi Priatama, 26, has treated 10 people with COVID-19 symptoms over the past month at a busy West Java hospital in a designated virus "red zone" - and provided consultation for scores more through the app Alodokter.
"Because there are limited healthcare facilities especially in my district, our people need more information that is easy to use without the need to go the hospital," he told Reuters.
With 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, authorities have little capacity to manage what some experts believe is an epidemic that has been hidden so far by limited testing.
To lessen the strain, the government is directing the public to so-called telehealth firms through which they can access verified medical guidance, get free doctor consultations via video, telephone or text, and even have medication prescribed and delivered.
Indonesia's largest telehealth firms, including Alodokter, Halodoc and GrabHealth - a joint venture between Singapore ride-hailer Grab and Ping An Good Doctor from China's Ping An Healthcare and Technology Co Ltd - have seen usage skyrocket over the past month.
"As hospitals are already packed, the government wants to ensure only priority patients are going to emergency rooms and that patients who don't urgently need hospitalisation can be helped online," said Alodokter Chief Executive Nathanael Faibis.
Alodokter clocked 32 million website visitors in March and over 500,000 free coronavirus consultations since Indonesia's first confirmed case on March 2, Faibis said. Grabhealth said daily consultations had nearly doubled to 10,000.
Indonesia has recorded 3,293 cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. Its death toll of 280 is Asia's highest outside China, where the virus was first reported at the end of last year.
