How is the current healthcare industry in Indonesia? What technology can be used? How can Artificial Intelligence play a role in the development of Indonesia’s future healthcare services? 

Throughout centuries, the healthcare industry has definitely developed into a more integrated industry with a lot of scientifically proven fields and tools. In the past, healthcare started from home remedies and using traditional methods of healing, while in the present, technology and science have developed into a more integrated field which allows the industry to be present with new technologies and quality medical approaches. 

There is no doubt that the global healthcare industry is always growing from time to time. In 2022, the revenue in the healthcare industry is projected to reach USD 52.76 billion and also expected to show an annual growth rate of 12.29%, resulting in a projected market volume of USD 94.19 billion by 2027. It is also forecasted to continue expanding faster than the global GDP due to aging populations, greater urbanisations, and higher prevalence of chronic diseases. 

One of the trends in the healthcare industry and medical science field include the implementation of technology. According to Deloitte, the healthcare ecosystem is currently on an unprecedented growth of digital medicine products, evidence based softwares, and hardware products. Using scientific discoveries and transformed clinical trial structures, digital medicines are one of the stepping stones in being able to advance the way people diagnose and treat different diseases. 

With that issue in hand, it makes us wonder, what type of technology is most in demand for the healthcare industry? Which technology is the most suitable? What are its future prospects when it is combined? Read more to find out!

Indonesian Healthcare Industry in a Glimpse

Overall health status in Indonesia has improved significantly throughout the years. Life expectancy has increased and infant mortality has dropped throughout a decade. The healthcare industry in Indonesia has a good opportunity for foreign investments, considering that the Indonesian government has a huge support for this industry. One of their attempts is to make amendments to the country’s Negative Investment List in 2017 that gave foreign investors a larger stake in certain sub-sectors of Indonesia’s health industry such as hospitals, clinics, and medical equipment. This also singlehandedly improves the country’s healthcare infrastructure with the hopes of encouraging the citizens of Indonesia to seek medical treatment domestically. 

In addition to that, Indonesia has introduced its universal healthcare program which covers almost 200 million people. It is run by the Social Security Administrator for Health, or known as the BPJS program, which allows the people enrolled in this program to receive free health services ranging from simple dental checkups to serious procedures. 

In Indonesia, the integration of technology in healthcare significantly reforms the Indonesian healthcare sector. The way hospitals and doctors store their records could be changed by the use of healthcare apps. Especially during the coronavirus pandemic, the growth of digital healthcare has been the new norm in the region including during post-COVID-19. This integration of technology makes healthcare accessible to the furthest regions and helps mitigate pressure on the existing healthcare system. 

Artificial Intelligence as a Prominent Technology for Development in Indonesia

While there are other several technologies developing alongside the healthcare industry, one specific type of technology that could be implemented and could be beneficial to Indonesia would be Artificial Intelligence (AI). 

Globally, the artificial intelligence market size was valued at USD 93.5 billion and is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 38.1% from 2022 to 2030. Not only its ability to implement its technology to healthcare, but technology giants are driving AI to be adopted in the automotive, retail, finance, and manufacturing industries. 

AI right now has a huge power in real world applications, and it has a significant impact on the world. This may cause some occupations and skills to decline slowly, but things will be evolving increasingly especially with the rise of capable machines. Embracing the power of AI creates considerable benefits for business and economies, proven by its contributions to productivity and innovation development.

Ways Artificial Intelligence Can Help the Healthcare Industry

On a wider scope, several types of AI are already being developed in life science companies in the context of diagnosis, treatment recommendations, patient engagement, adherence, and administrative activities. Not only that, AI also provides several ways that could help the healthcare industry, which includes:

1. Unifying mind and machine through brain-computer interfaces – this plays a significant role in neurological diseases and trauma to the nervous system. Brain computer interfaces backed by artificial intelligence could restore those fundamental experiences to those who feared them lost forever. 
2. Increase healthcare accessibility – shortages of trained healthcare providers could limit access in developing countries, with that, AI tools can help mitigate the impacts by taking some of the diagnostic duties typically allocated to humans.
3. Improving clinical decision making with artificial intelligence – AI could provide the fundamentals by creating predictive analytics and clinical decision support tools that help resolve problems long before they might worsen, hence increasing the probability of implementing early interventions. 

A Powerful Collaboration Between Artificial Intelligence and the Healthcare Industry 

There is no doubt that AI would be used effectively in the healthcare industry. In the present, there are a number of studies that suggest that AI can perform as well or as better than humans at diagnosis, and even at spotting malignant tumors. Considering that AI has its branches, most of them have high relevance to healthcare, including machine learning towards learning about neurological systems, natural language processing for speech recognition and language, rule based expert system for clinical decision support, and physical robots for doing physical movements. 

Though it poses a disadvantage for most of the workers in the healthcare industry because of the reason for being replaced, it is still a very good investment and strong collaboration for the healthcare sector. In Indonesia, digital healthcare should be integrated more, which leaves a room for opportunity for foreign investors to invest in this specific field. 

Enter Indonesia’s Integrated Healthcare Industry with BRIGHT Indonesia

It would take a lot of in-depth research about the healthcare industry in Indonesia. In order to enter the Indonesian market, you would need the right local partner to assist you. 

BRIGHT Indonesia is an ideal business partner for you. We will assist you on the ground, including virtual assistants during the mission, logistical planning, and detailed communication. It can cause your company to focus on developing partnership cooperation rather than the hassles of the business trip.

BRIGHT Indonesia provides several services such as Market Insight Research, Business Partnership Engagement, Management and Strategy Consulting, and Foreign Direct Investment. The services will help your business to:

1. Provide assistance for you in expanding and developing your business by identification of potential partners.
2. Secure the agreement between client companies and future Indonesian business partners by providing a list of potentially suitable partners, arrange business meetings, and act as a liaison.
3. Supporting our foreign client companies from the private sector with developing corporate or business unit strategies or helping your company from public sector organizations with public policy.
4. Link client companies both from the private and public sectors in global foreign direct investment (FDI) through training and assisting your company in entering FDI source countries to gather investment for your company’s local markets.

For more information, email info@brightindonesia.net.