TheJakartaPost
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Startups offer wider health access to people
Indonesia’s healthtech scene emerged in the late 2010s when entrepreneurs founded many of today’s notable players such as HaloDoc, Alodokter, Medigo and ProSehat. In August last year, some of these players banded together to form the Indonesian HealthTech Association.
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Living a healthy life becomes more convenient with many health apps that can be downloaded from Google Play or App Store. (Shutterstock/a-image)
Indonesian-born Jonathan Sudharta felt proud of his country when a top Health Ministry official defended his then untested idea of health technology (healthtech) startup HaloDoc.
This was back in 2015, when Jonathan and his friend Doddy Lukito pitched their startup to the ministry’s then director general for pharmaceuticals and health equipment, Maura Linda Sitanggang, in her office in Jakarta.
The two friends explained they would develop a medical service e-marketplace where users could – with a single app – buy medicine, book consultations, find nearby medical facilities and video-call doctors. Their aim was to improve medical access to Indonesia’s most remote regions.
“One of her staff said to her: ‘What creature is this? We don’t know how to regulate it. Better not endorse this now’,” Jonathan recalled.
“To my surprise, Bu Linda was very forward looking. She said [the ministry] did not know how to regulate [healthtech] because it never responded to changes in the market. Since then, regulators don’t see us as aliens but are willing to accept us, work together and listen to our input,” he said.
