Assaulting Halodoc Simplify Health Through Platforms

Who would have thought that digital solutions for health would spread rapidly during the Covid-19 pandemic. Initiated vision and mission Halodoc since five years ago is proof that 'healthtech is here to stay in Indonesia'. At the same time, they also learned a lot from the pandemic and how to react to have a further impact on the country.

Co-founder & CEO Halodoc Jonathan Sudharta told many things about the startup that he started from the beginning at his residence in the Cilandak area, South Jakarta some time ago.

“At that time [when we were just operating] we were proud to have 4 thousand doctors, in the first month we had 100 thousand user, but the app rating is 1,9. At first we thought that having thousands of doctors was good. Finally we cleaned up and got insight that we need proper product that solves the right pain. And in the process solving pains, we need to combine products, operations, and technology,” said Jonathan starting the conversation.

He continued, “We find small things that were previously unthinkable, turn out to be the focus on the right the problem is not the solution. Our mantra is 'don't fall in love with solution, but falling in love with the right pain'. From there, we started the experiment to only activate five doctors who were always active to answer user complaints. [..] With that change rating up to 4.”

Efforts to understand'passion pain', the term he mentioned, has a lot of impact on the overall approach to product in Halodoc, especially during a pandemic. Test solution drive thru for Covid-19 tests and vaccines is one of the company's realizations that took this approach and is still operating today.

"At a glance, we have helped more than 630 thousand people with vaccines drive thru, maybe this is not much compared to the population in Indonesia. But in fact private, we are one of the biggest. Our mission is to simplify health services that are not just about business."

Not only are people flocking to use telemedicine services, from the supply side doctors are also showing interest. It was stated that when Covid-19 first broke out, there were more than 500 doctors per week onboard into the app Halodoc. Until now, Halodoc has more than 20 thousand doctors.

from the start, Halodoc positioning itself as a telemedicine startup that has a teleconsultation solution with a guarantee of 15 seconds of immediate response from doctors and a drug purchasing service at the pharmacy with a guarantee of 15 minutes of arrival at home. These two services are a source of company monetization because there is a commission earned from each transaction.

Jonathan claims that the contributions from both of them are quite equal, able to put the company in a position where it is already making a profit. However, he is still trying to increase the transaction volume from these two channels Halodoc can become a sustainable company in the future.

"We're not going to lie, we're still looking for a way to do it sustain. There is a saying in the digital world 'if you can't get up 10 times experience, don't expect to sell service You'. But if you get to that point, prove that you have it product market fit, where people are willing to pay service You."

Although the number of users is not stated Halodoc, Jonathan detailed that as many as 30% are in Jabodetabek, of this figure, users from Jakarta almost dominate at around 20%. Then, the rest are from outside Jabodetabek and 50% are outside Java.

My Midwife Application

Another interesting thing that Jonathan conveyed on this occasion was the story of how he was able to attract the couple Bill Gates and Melinda Gates to invest in Halodoc. Long story short, Jonathan was selected as one of the delegates for a training program held by this philanthropic foundation several years ago, until finally officially injected Halodoc in 2019.

On one occasion, all participants had the opportunity to have lunch with Bill Gates. Jonathan appeared in different clothes according to the requirements given by the committee. He managed to attract the attention of Bill Gates and did pitching which essentially proposes how his philanthropic foundation can help the Indonesian people.

“At that time I was straight pitching which essentially wants to invite cooperation, not for funding. But in the end there was a different approach to solving health issues that required digital technology, this decision made them finally invest in it Halodoc. "

The form of realization of this investment is: My Midwife application. This application is purely for social purposes, it is free and is intended for people in remote areas. The midwife becomes an extension of the hand Halodoc to enter remote areas, the population of midwives in Indonesia is currently around 240 thousand people.

Halodoc want to resolve how midwives can treat patients better with output better birth rates, lower death rates, and so on. This application focuses on solving administrative problems that previously midwives had to spend at least two hours every day to take care of.

Not only that, this application can manage patient data and digital cards, access patient visit history automatically summarized in digital Puskesmas reports, and send visit reminders to WhatsApp, and check practice recaps to manage & develop the practice. "For midwives who used the application before and after using the application, the number of visits doubled because before it existed app many have uncontrolled schedules.”

He continued, “Halodoc Not everything is full of 'meat', there are many human factors that we work on. This is part of sociopreneur, there is a part entrepreneur that should sustain. But don't forget our call to help others."

Next plan

Healthtech is an industry that has just been born since the pandemic. The product was really only validated during the pandemic. For that reason, there are many players healthtech which presents a similar solution, is not considered a competitor by Jonathan. In fact, he saw that in the world of health, the more solutions there are, the more people will be able to get access to health.

Halodoc included in one of the startups healthtech which is part of the Indonesian Telemedicine Alliance (ATENSI) together with 30 other companies. This association was only founded at the end of last year, in the midst of the pandemic. Other companies include Alodokter, Good Doctor, Klikdokter, Homecare24, and many more.

"In the world of health, we must not see other players as competitors, instead it encourages us to grow better."

The company's next plan after learning from this pandemic is to focus on preventive measures. This can be seen from a number of features in the application which are included in the Health Support column, such as the health insurance package feature with Astra Insurance, diabetes risk, menstrual calendar, BMI calculator, pregnancy calendar, heart risk, medication reminders, and donations.

"We hope Halodoc can keep patients healthy. "We take care of them with features, such as a short diabetes risk test, because we strive to keep them healthy and be part of healthy people," he concluded.