| Catalist-listed Meta Health is making inroads in Indonesia's nascent digital healthcare sector. In an update on the Group’s business development in Indonesia helmed by its healthcare platform company, 5Digital, it said that 5Digital launched its second office in Indonesia with PT Gaido Digital Medika (PT GDM) in Bali. This followed closely after its investment in November 2021 with an office in Jakarta. |
Head of the government tourism office in Bali, Tjok Bagus Pemayun (third from right), and the 5Digital team at the launch of health tourism services with the opening of branch office of Digital Hospital in Bali. Dr Vas Metupalle is second from left.
In January 2022, PT GDM launched a trademarked product called “Digital Hospital” in Indonesia.
There is a rapid push for digitisation in the healthcare sector in Indonesia, as well as a drive for smarter hospitals with products shared from 5Digital’s other platform investments announced earlier with MedTel in October 2021.
| Smart hospital initiative |
| “We see opportunities beyond telemedicine and ePharmacy services, with the smart hospital initiative we launched, and the increasing acceptance for our partnership approach. We intend to increase our focus this year on managed care services and leveraging on data with our hospital partners in Indonesia to launch combined products we can market through the multiple online and offline channels.” -- Dr Vas Metupalle, Chief Medical Officer, 5Digital |
Digital Hospital has gained significant traction, with the announcement by G20 business council of Digital Hospital being identified as a partner of the Indonesian Tourism Medical Association in early March 2022.
Indonesia is chairing the G20 Summit this year, with Bali as host city for the summit in November 2022.
Indonesia’s President, Joko Widodo had identified Digitisation and Healthcare as core focus areas, and recently launched an International Hospital to be built in Bali with Mayo Clinic from the United States. This is seen as an opportunity to reverse Rp 97 trillion (about US$6.8 billion) spent by 2 million Indonesians who were
going to countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, or the US for medical treatment yearly.
With the reopening of borders, there is a race to upgrade and provide options for higher quality local treatment options within Indonesia.
The Bali office for PT GDM is complimentary to this policy and provides a capacity for 25-person managed care and call center to help the company provide aggregation of medical tourism packages from its hospital partners and concierge services to travel insurance and other corporate partners.
Chief Executive Officer of PT GDM, Dr Putro S Mohammad, commented: “We have engaged several private hospitals in Jakarta and now in Bali with 5Digital’s support on platform and partnering leading equipment vendors, to digitise and scale up their operations with international quality and provide our
local population as well as potential visitors with products on par with leading hospitals in the region.
"We thank Tjok Bagus Pemayun, head of government tourism department in Bali, for gracing our launch event and supporting Bali as the medical tourism hub within Indonesia.”