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Govt to improve telehealth services as patients struggle during home isolation
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Health tech start-up apps are shown on a screen on Monday, Aug 2, 2021. (JP/Norman Harsono)
W
hile the government works to improve online treatment services for self-isolating COVID-19 patients amid the ongoing third wave of the pandemic, reports continue to surface about complications in the use of telehealth apps.
Ria, a 27-year-old private company employee, went into self-isolation in a kost (rooming house) in South Jakarta early this month after she tested positive for COVID-19. She believes she had a mild case, experiencing a fever, headaches, muscle aches and chills.
“I chose to self-quarantine because I thought the symptoms were light and I did not want to put people at risk by having them drive me to a hospital,” Ria said.
The next day, she received a WhatsApp message from the Health Ministry saying that she was eligible for free virtual consultations and medication. She immediately consulted with a doctor on a telehealth app, who confirmed her mild case and prescribed the antiviral medicine Favipiravir, as well as paracetamol and multivitamins.
“The medication arrived only a day after I uploaded the prescription, but not all of them matched with what the doctor had prescribed," she said. "So, I was worried about whether it was safe to take them or not."
She said she still had to buy up to Rp 900,000 (US$62) worth of drugs out of pocket that included additional multivitamins, nasal spray to reduce flu-like symptoms and medication for indigestion.
Still, she found the service helpful enough for a patient with mild symptoms like her.
