Community health centres, or puskesmas, in the Indonesian province of West Java, south of capital Jakarta, will leverage generative AI to augment their capabilities to address critical health issues. 

The Sumedang regency recently tied up with Singaporean doctors' networking platform Docquity to develop and launch the genAI-powered virtual assistant called TehAI. 

HOW IT WORKS

TehAI reportedly has an intuitive and easy-to-use chat interface which community health workers can use to tap into genAI-driven information. It pulls information from a wide knowledge base, including scientific journals, the World Health Organization repository, the database of the Indonesian Ministry of Health and data sources from the Sumedang government. 

WHY IT MATTERS

Based on a media release, the use of the genAI platform will initially focus on improving the knowledge of puskesmas workers to diagnose and treat tuberculosis, stunting, and hypertension, which are among the top identified health concerns in Sumedang regency. (A regency is a second-level administrative division in Indonesia, directly below a province.)

In recent years, tuberculosis in Indonesia has been increasing; from an estimated 800,000 in 2020, cases swelled to over a million in 2023 with recorded deaths at around 130,000 – the second highest in the world that year next to India.

Meanwhile, Indonesia is working to meet its target of reducing cases of stunting to 14% this year from 21% in 2022, which was higher than the Asian average. 

Hypertension, a major health risk in the country, affects one in three people with over 400,000 lives already claimed.

THE LARGER TREND

The West Java province plans to expand the rollout of TehAI in other regencies following the pilot implementation in Sumedang.

"The success of this initiative will pave the way for its replication across other regencies in West Java, improving healthcare outcomes throughout the province," said the province's general secretary Dr Herman Suryatman. 

The uptake of emerging technologies such as genAI in Indonesian puskesmas contributes to larger efforts to digitalise rural health. This includes the mandated adoption of EMRs and the proposed implementation of satellite internet connectivity.

Sumedang's genAI platform project also marks Docquity's first partnership in the public sector. Besides this project, Docquity is also collaborating with the regency on a program that aims to ensure patient adherence to medication schedules, appointments, and prescribed lifestyle activities.