Telemedicine Expansion To Outside Java-Bali Begins February 19

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health is expanding the scope of telemedicine services to outside Java and Bali for the purposes of treating COVID-19 patients who are self-isolating (isoman) starting February 19, 2022.

"Considering that active cases have begun to spread, we plan to expand telemedicine services, which were previously only Java-Bali, we will expand to Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi," said the Chief of Digital Transformation Office (DTO) of the Ministry of Health, Setiaji, as quoted by Antara, Wednesday, February 16.

Setiaji said the expansion of telemedicine services started from the cities of Medan, Palembang, Balikpapan, Banjarmasin, Manado and Makassar.

He hopes that wider access to telemedicine services can accelerate the recovery of people affected by COVID-19 and ensure that health services can reach all of Indonesia.

Setiaji said that currently there are 17 telemedicine platforms that work with the Indonesian Ministry of Health to provide free teleconsultation services for people who are confirmed positive for COVID-19 with criteria for people without symptoms (OTG) and mild symptoms to be able to do self-isolation (isoman).

The criteria for accessing telemedicine services are people who are confirmed positive for COVID-19 as evidenced by PCR swab results that show positive results and are registered in the New All Record (NAR) system of the Indonesian Ministry of Health.

Not only telemedicine services are provided free of charge, but the government also provides free drug packages which are distributed through Kimia Farma Pharmacy and will be delivered by the SiCepat expedition service provider to the patient's house.

There are also drug packages that are given free of charge from the Indonesian Ministry of Health, including package A for OTG containing ten tablets of multivitamins C, B, E, Zinc.

Package B for mild symptoms contains ten tablets of multivitamins C, B, E, Zinc, 40 caplets of Favipiravir 200 mg, 40 tablets of Molnupiravir 200 mg, and 500 mg Paracetamol Tab if needed.

If the patient needs medicine or other multivitamins according to the symptoms the patient complains about outside the free drug package from the government, Setiaji said, the patient can buy it independently.

The 17 telemedicine platforms for the isoman program of the Indonesian Ministry of Health include Aido Health, Alodokter, Getwell, Good Doctor, Halodoc, Homecare24, KlikDokter, KlinikGo, Lekasehat, LinkSehat, Mdoc, Milvik Dokter, ProSehat, SehatQ, Trustmedis, Vascular Indonesia and YesDok.