Indonesia’s healthtech regulations inject new dose of optimism to startups

The Indonesian House of Representatives’ approval of the omnibus health bill on July 11, 2023 marked a new chapter for healthtech startups in the country.

The bill was passed three weeks after President Joko Widodo announced that Covid-19 pandemic had officially ended. Among the topics outlined there is the legal framework for technology-based healthcare services, which had been eagerly awaited by healthtech industry players.

To them, the framework hasn’t just created opportunities for healthcare technology, it has also opened doors to privatizing several sectors and making them more accessible.

The legalities of healthtech

Since telemedicine services such as Halodoc, Alodokter, and KlikDokter emerged six years ago, tech-based healthcare services had not been explicitly regulated. This raised concerns among industry players over the possibility of sudden bans or restrictions.

Photo credit: Halodoc

“At least with the recognition of telemedicine in the aforementioned law, colleagues involved in the B2C segment such as telemedicine can breathe a sigh of relief,” says Danu Wicaksana, managing director of Good Doctor Indonesia.

Wicaksana states that even before he took the helm of Good Doctor Indonesia in March 2020, he was already concerned with telemedicine’s legal status in the country. He said he was fortunate to be appointed leader of the company at the same time the government promoted telemedicine services to minimize people’s mobility at the beginning of the pandemic.

At that time, the government introduced specific policies on the use of telemedicine, an extension of the Minister of Health Regulation (PMK) No. 20, released in 2019.

Lifepack founder and CEO Natali Ardianto has also seen progress in the healthcare industry since the pandemic.

One example is the rule on using electronic prescriptions, which the Indonesian Food and Drug Authority or BPOM issued in 2020.

“As an online pharmacy business entity that relies on prescriptions and the development of electronic prescription systems, we truly saw a glimmer of hope at that time, as what we were doing was finally considered legal,” Ardianto tells Tech in Asia Indonesia.

Lifepack team / Photo credit: Tech in Asia

Before the omnibus health law was enacted, the Ministry of Health issued PMK No. 24/2022 as the legal basis for conducting and governing electronic medical record systems, along with accompanying services including online pharmacies.

Beyond the pandemic momentum