2,000 telehealth kiosks are deployed in rural Malaysia
A new private partnership in Malaysia aims to equip rural clinics with telehealth capabilities over the next two years.
Rural broadband service provider MEASAT and local healthcare IT company Mudah Healthtech have signed a memorandum of understanding to enable the delivery of digital healthcare services in rural and remote communities.
They aim to deliver a maximum of 2,000 Sihat
MEASAT and Mudah have officially launched their partnership by unveiling their first telehealth kiosk at Kg Togop Darat 1, a village in Ranau, Sabah.
WHY IT MATTERS
About a million residents live in nearly 4,000 broadband hotspots covered by the MEASAT service in rural Malaysia.
Sihat Xpress’ telehealth kiosks allow them to seek online consultations for various non-urgent medical issues. They will also soon be able to monitor blood oxygen levels, blood pressure, body temperature and blood glucose themselves.
Equipping rural health facilities with telehealth capabilities can ultimately help reduce overcrowding and long wait times, MEASAT said in a statement.
Making the self-service telehealth kiosks available to rural residents will also enable them to take control of their health, increase health literacy and prevent them from developing non-communicable diseases.
THE GREATER CONTEXT
Enabling equitable access to quality healthcare is one of the Malaysian government’s healthcare priorities. In its 12th Malaysia Plan for 2021-2025, the federal government has outlined several initiatives to address this challenge, including leveraging emerging technologies and adopting Industry 4.0 technologies such as AI and big data analytics. Expansion of virtual clinic services is also planned.
Contributing to Malaysia’s healthcare digitalization efforts, the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council signed a memorandum of understanding with HIMSS last year to help hospitals get assessed and accredited to the latter’s digital maturity models.
ON THE RECORD
“We believe that telehealth services through Sihat Xpress can play a role in addressing the lack of medical professionals in remote areas and helping residents get medical advice more easily without having to travel long distances. This is in line with our own efforts to deploy mobile laboratories to remote districts to conduct medical checks and our encouragement of integration and collaboration between government, the private sector and the public to raise healthcare awareness and improve well-being,” said Flovia Ng, Assistant Minister of Community Development and Public Welfare for Sabah. during the launch of MEASAT and Mudah’s telehealth partnership.
“Through digital health, we aim to help reduce the healthcare gap in remote communities, allowing rural residents to proactively monitor their health through routine check-ups and online consultations, without spending time and money traveling long distances to a healthcare facility,” MEASAT COO Yau Chyong said Lim also said.