Whether or not COVID-19 becomes endemic, telemedicine has become a part of the new health consumption for the people at the moment, especially for Indonesia's growing middle class that dominates the national economyJakarta (ANTARA) - Telemedicine applications have become a part of the suite of health services used by people due to the COVID-19 pandemic, vice director of Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), Eko Listiyanto, has said.
"Whether or not COVID-19 becomes endemic, telemedicine has become a part of the new health consumption for the people at the moment, especially for Indonesia's growing middle class that dominates the national economy," Listiyanto said at an online discussion here on Friday.
According to Indef's vice director, telemedicine will become a trend with the development of digitalization. He pointed out that telemedicine had actually become a need even before COVID-19 was detected in advanced nations.
"This is because telemedicine connects patients with doctors through an application. If we are looking at the data from the macro perspective, then the health service is experiencing a quite high growth of 11 percent in the second quarter of this year," he noted.
The implementation of public activity restrictions (PPKM) has restricted mobility so individuals contracting COVID-19 are utilizing telemedicine in order to get easy access to health services, Listiyanto said.
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"Honestly, telemedicine helps individuals who are self-isolating, especially millennials who know how to use health services through telemedicine since they are familiar with digitalization," the economist remarked.
Moreover, it is relatively affordable and consumers feel that accessing health services through telemedicine is safer during the pandemic, he said.
Meanwhile, data analyst from Continuum Data Indonesia, Muhammad Azzam, said that discussions surrounding telemedicine on the Internet rose sixfold at the start of the PPKM.
"Telemedicine has been considered as a reliable source of information for consumers. Consumers can directly consult a doctor for medication. Telemedicine is also affordable and is easy to use to order a medicine," Azzam noted.
During the PPKM, the demand for telemedicine services has risen drastically, he said. People who want to have a health consultation have come to rely on various applications that provide this service, especially those who are conducting self-isolation, he added.
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Translator: Aji Cakti, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Suharto
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