SINGAPORE - The Covid-19 pandemic has been a major enabler of technology in healthcare, and societies should leverage the momentum to continue expanding the sector's use of digital solutions, a panel of experts said on Tuesday .The panel comprised Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, his Malaysian counterpart Khairy Jamaluddin, chief financial officer of Doctor Anywhere Edwin Basuki, and Ms Jessica Tan, co-chief executive of financial services firm Ping An Group from China.
Referring to how Malaysia's MySejahtera app has been downloaded about 30 million times, Mr Khairy said:" would never ever have had a population roll-out of an app, if it wasn't for Covid-19."Ms Tan said there is always a demand for cheaper and faster healthcare service, as well as more qualified healthcare professionals.
"At the end of the day, healthcare is highly personal to everyone...trust is incredibly important," he said. He intends to move childhood immunisation records onto the MySejahtera app, and also allow people to use it to book health screenings. "We have to be quite clear on that. If you let a digital relationship replace your analog and emotional relationship, you're in trouble."