Building ‘smart’ healthcare supply chains in Indonesia

Indonesia’s supply chains lack coordination and integration, so its hospitals have been unable to respond quickly to new demands caused by COVID-19. How can digital technologies help?

A new Australia-Indonesia Centre (AIC) Rapid Research project will investigate supply chain issues in Indonesia, and how Australia can support necessary upgrades.

Surging infections across the world have seen many supply chains struggle under disruptions to people, systems and movement, and this disruption has been especially felt in healthcare, with hospitals urgently requiring increased personal protective equipment (PPE) and other products.

This project aims to establish ‘smart healthcare supply chains’ in Indonesia that enhance the capability of procurement and supply chain professionals using digital technologies.

The study will identify opportunities for implementing emerging technologies, particularly in the use of big data and data analytics.

“The application of emerging technologies as part of smart supply chains is heavily focused on information and data management,” said project Co-lead Dr Wawan Dhewanto from Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB).

This project will address issues around collection, protection, dissemination, and data sharing to allow real-time supply chain operations and activities to take place.”

The project will also connect experts in Australia and Indonesia, particularly allowing the Australians to share their progress in this area with their Indonesian counterparts.

“Considerable progress has been made in Australia in building smart healthcare supply chains, with some good examples to draw upon in the state of Victoria”, said project Co-lead Prof. Amrik Sohal from Monash University.

“This project,” he continued, “will engage both the Australian Digital Health Authority and Health Purchasing Victoria, as well as a number of local healthcare service providers in Melbourne, in discussions with their counterparts in Indonesia.”

This knowledge transfer will build relationships between healthcare researchers, practitioners and policy-makers in the two countries and enable them to collaborate in the future on other projects.

The research team

Co-leads: Prof. Amrik Sohal (Monash), Dr Wawan Dhewanto (ITB)

Participants: Prof. Daniel Prajogo (Monash), Dr Mursyid Hasan Basri (ITB)

Australian Media enquiries

Marlene Millott
PAIR Program Officer
+61 427 516 851
pair@australiaindonesiacentre.org

Indonesian Media enquiries

Fadhilah Trya Wulandari
PAIR Program Officer
+62 8124 3637 755
pair@australiaindonesiacentre.org

About the Australia-Indonesia Centre

The AIC was established by the Australian and Indonesian Governments in 2013. It brings together 11 universities – seven Indonesian and four Australian – to advance people-to-people links in science, technology, education, innovation and culture. The AIC designs and facilitates bilateral research programs, taking research outcomes to policy and practice. It forms interdisciplinary teams that work collaboratively with stakeholders – policy, business and community – to find solutions to regional, national and global challenges.

Beyond research, the AIC’s outreach activities contribute to broader people-to-people links. It runs digital dialogues that seek to shed new insights. It supports the deepening of cultural exchange through a binational short film festival, explores respective national attitudes and perceptions towards each other, and brings together future leaders of both nations workshops, dialogues and other programs.

The Rapid Research program is part of the AIC’s Partnership for Australia-Indonesia Research, funded by the Australian Government.  It is AIC’s front-foot response to a better understanding of COVID-19’s impact on Indonesia’s economy and society.  It brings together Sixty Australian and Indonesian researchers from the AIC’s consortium of 11 universities to explore three areas: COVID-19 People and Health; COVID-19, People and Connectivity, and COVID-19, People and Economic Recovery.