Indonesia - Indonesian Hospitals Seek to Benefit From Digital Health-Care System

Jakarta. Several hospitals and medical facilities in Indonesia are keen to benefit from a digital health-care system as it is more effective and efficient, despite a long waiting period for full implementation, leading health professionals said.

With the rapid development of information technology, the health-care industry has seen an opportunity for a new business model involving digital assistance, because the use of information and communication technologies help health-care professionals and patients better manage illnesses and health risks.

Siloam International Hospitals president director Romeo Lledo said there are still many challenges for the Indonesian health-care system to keep up with rapid developments in the digital era.

Many hospitals still remain focused on the medical standardization process, he said.

Romeo said it was important and necessary to reach a high standard of medical treatment first, before implementing the enormous recent advances in health-care systems.

"We need to standardize everything before taking the more serious step of migrating manual data used in the medical system to a digital format," Romeo told the Jakarta Globe at the sidelines of the 2016 Healthcare Asia Forum in Jakarta on Thursday (28/04).

Taking a small step to the more advanced use of information technology, the Siloam Hospitals group is currently working to compile a more integrated patient database, which can be accessed from anywhere.

This will enable doctors to access patients' medical history stored by the Siloam Hospitals group from any of the group's hospitals in the country.

By the end of 2015, the Siloam Hospitals group was operating 20 hospitals, with a combined capacity of 4,800 beds supported by 2,100 doctors and 8,200 nurses, in 14 cities across Indonesia.

The company aims to have 10,000 beds in 50 hospitals in 25 cities, treating 15 million patients, by 2017.

DNA Diagnostic Center clinic manager Yuri Obon said the government should regulate how digitization will help the health-care industry, although the progress of digital adaptation was currently running at a very slow pace.

"As a whole, the government has not regulated it, so those who start to shift into the more advanced use of a digital health-care system will inefficiently run two systems at the same time: a manual and a digital one," Yuri explained.

The Jakarta Globe and Siloam are both affiliated with the Lippo Group.

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