Aulia Zahrina Qashri, Product Manager at Digital Transformation Office, Ministry of Health, Indonesia
By Yun Xuan Poon
Women in GovTech Special Report 2021.
I am a Product Manager at the Digital Transformation Office (DTO), a working unit under the Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Republic of Indonesia. In general, the Digital Transformation Office aims to transform healthcare delivery in Indonesia. Our goal is to provide user-friendly and reliable digital health products that will promote safety, timeliness, effectiveness, efficiency, equitability and patient-centredness (STEEEP) of healthcare services in Indonesia.
I work on several systems that are related to dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. Contrary to the impression of “digital transformation” as in developing new digital health solutions, most systems that our team handle have actually been developed by other units in the Ministry of Health or other organisations. This means, our main challenge is to improve those systems without compromising its existing adoption. Our work towards digital transformation in healthcare doesn’t only apply to the technology itself, but also to upskill the digital capacity of its existing and upcoming users.
What was the most impactful project you worked on this year?
One of the most interesting projects that I have worked on would be the tracing system, Silacak. Silacak is not intended to be used by consumers, it doesn’t use location tracking or bluetooth exchanges. Instead, Silacak is used by healthcare workers to trace and monitor close contacts of Covid-19 cases.
In July 2021, the contact tracing ratio in Indonesia only reached 1:3, whilst the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard is 1:15. Together with the WHO and Sub-Directorate of Emerging Infectious Disease MoH, the DTO empowers the collaboration between healthcare workers, the army and the police to improve contact tracing in Indonesia. While in parallel improving Silacak into a more user-friendly system.
We are grateful that our collaboration is not in vain. Indonesia’s contact tracing ratio has increased to 1:12 in October 2021, which accounts for a 300 per cent increase in a period of three months. Currently, the newest version of Silacak is being rolled out gradually to every province in Indonesia. We are hoping that this new version of Silacak will help to increase our contact tracing ratio to reach 1:15 according to WHO standard.
What is one unexpected learning from 2021?
Personally, I never expect to work within the government. I had always been someone who worked in the private sector. But as this Covid-19 pandemic comes, I also started to see how I can contribute to improving healthcare delivery in emerging situations. I have been wanting to make a good impact for a lot of people and I have the right competency to do it. So joining the DTO has been a dream come true.
It has been a rollercoaster ride in the DTO. But I’m blessed enough to have my colleagues, friends and family who support me 24/7.
What’s your favourite memory from the past year?
I hadn’t started to work within the government at that time. I had just started working at a medicine research centre at a university. We were working to improve the tuberculosis reporting system in the private sector, as it was underreported. It was interesting how the government focuses on improving tuberculosis reporting in the public sector. But it feels like the private sector has been forgotten.
It was a brief experience at the research centre, but there were a lot of things that I can learn. It has set a good reminder that the digital transformation that we bring should be inclusive for both public and private sectors.
What’s a tool or technique you’re excited to explore in 2022?
I’m interested to implement product management best practices in 2022. Out of all the tools that are available right now, I am keen on exploring Notion to its maximum capability. Notion has been proven to be a simple yet powerful tool for documentation and collaboration.
What are your priorities for 2022?
Enforce better product research and data analytics so that we can deliver more user-friendly and data-driven products. I want to involve the users more when developing a new feature or product.
Who are the mentors and heroes that inspire you?
One of the heroes who inspire me would be the Minister of Health of the Republic of Indonesia, H.E. Budi Gunadi Sadikin, who has taken such a huge responsibility by becoming the Minister of Health despite not having a medical background. His Excellency has shown great leadership and management skills, which initiates Indonesia’s digital transformation in healthcare.
What gets you up in the morning?
Knowing that I’m blessed with a great support system, both at home and at work, makes me want to provide and serve others more. For me, it has always been a blessing to have the ability to help others. If what I do can lessen the burden of others, even if it's just a little, I would gladly give my all every day in every situation.