Demands for Telemedicine and Vaccines Rises after Covid-19 Cases

Healthcare startup Good Doctor recorded a six-fold increase in demand for telemedicine services in the past month.

The increase occurred for vaccination registration services since the Covid-19 case soared. Head of Medical Management Good Doctor Adhiatma Gunawan said the surge in Covid-19 cases had made health facilities, such as hospitals and clinics full.

As a result, many people choose to get health services from telemedicine platforms. “Service increases up to six times for the number of incoming consultations. This is a reflection that Covid-19 cases outside are already very high,” said Adhitama, Wednesday (7/7).

In addition, telemedicine services for consultations related to Covid-19 complaints and complaints of other diseases have also increased. This was followed by an increase in drug supply services, as well as vaccination services.

“More than 50,000 people have registered for vaccination through Good Doctor,” said Adhitama. Until now, vaccination services through Good Doctor have targeted a wider group of people.

Has Provided 6 Vaccination Locations in Indonesia

Previously, services tended to be reserved for health workers, the elderly (elderly), and public servants. The range of vaccination areas has also been expanded and is not limited to Java and Bali only.

Good Doctor currently also provides vaccination services in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Another health startup Halodoc also provides vaccination services.

“The community that we have facilitated with Covid-19 vaccination has almost reached 250,000 people,” said Halodoc VP of Government Relations and Corporate Affairs Adeline Hindarto, Tuesday (6/7).

As of April, Halodoc has provided vaccination services in six locations. The six are in Sumatra, Surabaya, Bogor, and Yogyakarta. Every day, Halodoc can provide vaccinations for up to 1,500 people.

Meanwhile, Covid-19 cases continue to soar and continue to touch record highs. On Wednesday (7/7) as many as 34,379 cases increased in a day.

As a result, the cumulative positive cases in Indonesia rose by 2.37 million cases. In fact, the number of deaths continues to increase by 1,040.

Based on Worldometers data, the addition of new cases of Covid-19 in Indonesia today has the potential to be the highest in the world. Meanwhile, in India today only added 769 new cases, whereas yesterday the figure increased to 34,067 cases.

Self-isolation Patients Can Get Free Medicines at Good Doctor and Halodoc

The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) collaborates with 11 telemedicine platforms to provide free consultation and medical services for Covid-19 positive patients who are undergoing self-isolation (self-isolation).

Included in 11 platforms, currently, Good Doctor and Halodoc can be accessed by patients, as well as health workers and the availability of drugs has been prepared.

Head of Medical Management Good Doctor Adhiatma Gunawan said, after being appointed by the Ministry of Health, the company immediately prepared its resources to provide optimal services. Currently, Good Doctor has thousands of doctors and works with 2,000 pharmacies.

Since Tuesday (6/7) the special service has started to be tested, there have been a number of self-isolation patients who have registered. In addition, the platform has also prepared a special page that can be accessed for these self-isolation patients.

“We follow the standards according to the Ministry of Health’s regulations, and the public can already see it,” he said.

VP of Government Relations and Corporate Affairs of Halodoc Adeline Hindarto said that their party supports the Ministry of Health’s efforts regarding the presence of telemedicine.

“We are currently coordinating closely with the Ministry of Health to ensure the program can run as it should,” he said, Tuesday (6/7).

The free telemedicine service is currently only available in Jakarta. Based on the instructions from the Ministry of Health, self-isolation patients can use the service as long as they have done a PCR test or antigen swab at a laboratory affiliated with the Ministry of Health.

Later, the positive test results and the lab will be entered into the database of positive cases of Covid-19 at the Ministry of Health. Henceforth, patients will receive messages via Whatsapp automatically.