Trust key to harnessing of digital solutions in healthcare: Panellists

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 yesterday.

Trust, among other things, is crucial to maintaining progress in this area, they said at the Asia Tech x Singapore summit held at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore.

The panel comprised Health Minister Ong Ye Kung; his Malaysian counterpart Khairy Jamaluddin; Mr Edwin Basuki, chief financial officer of Doctor Anywhere; and Ms Jessica Tan, co-chief executive of financial services firm Ping An Group from China.

Mr Ong said: "Many of the things that were hitherto not possible before Covid-19 now can be done, and they can be done because of digital tools."

He cited telemedicine, which he said is now well accepted here, and Singapore's database of people who have been vaccinated against and tested for the coronavirus.

Mr Khairy, referring to how Malaysia's MySejahtera app has been downloaded about 30 million times, said: "(We) would never ever have had a population roll-out of an app if it wasn't for Covid-19."

The panellists said such digital solutions will continue to play important roles in societies.

Ms Tan said there is always demand for cheaper and faster healthcare service, as well as more qualified healthcare professionals.

Technology can help with these demands, not by replacing doctors, but by improving accessibility of healthcare for many, she added.

For instance, she said, Ping An Group last year launched an online butler service to help care for elderly folk in China who live alone. It reminds them to exercise and look after themselves.

Technology can also support doctors in their work, added Ms Tan.

She said that while there are about 1.4 billion people in China, there are only 3.8 million doctors.

"That is clearly not enough."

So, her company has developed an artificial intelligence system that functions as a mental map of how diseases should be diagnosed.

This clinical support system has improved the accuracy of doctors' diagnoses, she said.

Mr Basuki said his company is thinking of ways technology can be used in secondary and tertiary care, which he hopes people will be more receptive to. "At the end of the day, healthcare is highly personal to everyone... trust is incredibly important," he said.

He noted that Doctor Anywhere, despite being a telemedicine provider, needed to have physical clinics to gain credibility and patients' trust.

Mr Khairy hopes to ensure that people's efforts and desire to stay healthy, which gained prominence during the pandemic, continue beyond it.

He intends to move childhood immunisation records to the MySejahtera app, and allow people to use it to book health screening appointments.

For that to happen, he said, people need to trust it. The government must also ensure that the app is interoperable with other systems.

Mr Ong said the Singapore Government intends to harness digital solutions to enhance its HealthierSG initiative, and ensure that any technology used is compatible with other apps and wearables on the market.

HealthierSG is a plan for the reform of Singapore's healthcare system that will see a focus on preventive care.

Mr Ong added that it is key that government policy supports innovation.

Noting the importance of partnering the private sector, he said: "Central to all this is trust... in something like healthcare, trust is not developed by digital solutions.

"We have to be quite clear on that. If you let a digital relationship replace your analogue and emotional relationship, you are in trouble."

Adding that trust must be built based on human relationships, Mr Ong said that if primary care providers are successful in building trust with their patients, they may end up with so many patients that they need help caring for them.

"That is where digital solutions come in, the apps come in, the wearables, the diagnostic tools... to help the doctor build trust and prevent the patient from falling sick," he said.

"That is how we should think about it. The industry will definitely have to play a big role in building trust, and keeping people healthy."