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With doctors only one chat away, telemedicine on the rise in Indonesia
Sick days have become easier as meeting doctors, access to medicine and other health care-related services are only one chat away.
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Remote medical consultation services connect doctors and patients via smartphones and other devices. (Shutterstock/File)
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isiting a doctor used to be burdensome. Those feeling under the weather had to make a trip to a clinic or hospital and wait their turn for a consultation, and then wait around again at the pharmacy for their prescribed medicine.
But now, with the growing practice of telemedicine, sick days have become easier as meeting doctors, access to medicine and other health care-related services are only one chat away.
From her bedroom in Malang, East Java, Radhya Melkah, 21, decided to use Halodoc, a health care platform, for the first time.
The college student had been having trouble sleeping and felt depressed. She scrolled down the app and found that there were several clinical psychologists she could choose from. The app showed all necessary information about the doctors—from their photos, years of medical experience, academic background, consultation fee and availability.
While a doctor’s consultation can cost hundreds of thousands of rupiah, rates offered by the doctors on the app were lower than Rp 100,000. Chatting with a doctor for less than half an hour, Radhya described everything that had been bothering her.
“The doctor did not prescribe me any medicine, but instead I was asked to have a positive self-talk with myself in the morning and before I go to bed. I feel so much better now,” Radhya told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
She only paid Rp 15,000 (about US$1) for the consultation.
