Aussies drive dream of Indonesia medical tourism

Aspen Medical and Docta have signed a $1bn deal with the West Java government to build and operate 650 clinics and 25 hospitals.

Glenn Keys, chief executive of Aspen Medical, at the company's head office in Canberra.

To the countless Indonesians who fly abroad each year for better healthcare than they can access at home, the idea their country could one day be a hub for medical tourism might sound like fantasy.

But an Australian joint venture that this week signed a $US1bn deal to provide 650 international-standard clinics and 23 hospitals in one of Indonesia’s most populous provinces insists that is the ultimate aim.

Under the agreement, Can­berra’s Aspen Medical and Sydney’s Docta will partner with Indonesian state-owned enterprise Jasa Sanara to add more than 6000 hospital beds in West Java over the next two decades — what they say is needed to lift health standards for that province’s 50 million people.

The project aims to deliver 400 fixed and mobile health clinics in a so-called “hub-and-spoke model” and five hospitals in the next three years, adding a further 18 hospitals and 250 more clinics in phases after that.

West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said the public-private partnership, with some funding through Export Finance Australia, would help overcome a critical shortage of provincial hospital beds far quicker than could be done through public funding.

“It’s very important because (Tuesday’s signing) was a long-awaited ceremony,” he said, adding he would push for a quicker rollout to help the province’s COVID-19 response.

Aspen executive chairman Glenn Keys says the model builds on a successful strategy already rolled out in some of the world’s most challenging environments, including West Mosul in Iraq where it ran trauma and maternity hospitals for the World Health ­Organisation. But it also relies on the skills and experience provided by Docta, the telehealth and ­mobile clinic outfit which has ­operated in Indonesia since 2017 and was first approached by Mr Ridwan to fill “significant gaps” in health services.

“This is not going to be a one-fix solution. It’s going to take all aspects of both Docta and Aspen and all our international experience to address this,” Mr Keys said. “As a private operator we will be servicing both public and private patients. The role of this project is not to show up and create more facilities where they’re ­already provided. We have to find those spaces where there are a lot of people and not a lot of health care and provide the service.”

Improving Indonesia’s under-resourced health sector has never been more pressing as it struggles to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, which has officially infected more than 475,000 people and killed 15,393.

With a ratio of one hospital bed for every 4000 people, hospitals in even better-resourced Jakarta have come under severe strain. Docta managing director Andrew Rochford says the Australian joint venture was chosen with an eye to creating a viable medical tourism industry down the track. “Having spent four years in Indonesia I understand how significant the challenges are to move the needle even a little bit and that it might seem like too large a hill to climb, but we have confidence in the relationship we have built,” he said.

While skilled recruitment is also a recognised challenge, Mr Keys says Aspen provides training for every project wherever it is. “There is no way in the world people thought we could do C-sections 20km from the war zone of West Mosul but we were doing that every single day.”

Additional reporting: Chandni Vasandani