Bamsoet Urges Indonesia-China Cooperation in Health Technology
Indonesian House of Representatives member Bambang Soesatyo (Bamsoet) has urged increased cooperation between Indonesia and China in the field of health technology. The focus of the collaboration is directed towards the digitalisation of health services, the utilisation of artificial intelligence, telemedicine, and the mastery of advanced medical device technology.
Bamsoet added that this step is important to accelerate the transformation of the national health system while strengthening Indonesia’s health research and innovation capacity amid the growing need for faster, more accurate, and affordable health services.
“Indonesia must not merely become a market for developed countries’ health technology. Cooperation with other countries must be directed as a means of knowledge transfer, technology transfer, and experience transfer so that our health workers, researchers, universities, and the national medical device industry can stand on an equal footing with developed nations,” said Bamsoet in a written statement on Tuesday (23/06/2026).
He conveyed this while receiving Chairman of Yunkang Group China, Zhang Yong, in Jakarta on Monday (23/6/26).
The 15th Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly explained that the development of health technology in China over the past decade has shown very rapid progress. China has successfully integrated artificial intelligence into medical diagnosis systems, radiology analysis, data-based health monitoring, and primary health services in various regions.
This is in line with the Indonesian Ministry of Health’s agenda to develop an AI health ecosystem through the Indonesia Healthcare AI Hackathon 2025, involving the government, universities, the technology industry, and health innovation actors.
“Cooperation with China must be directed at strengthening Indonesia’s human resource capacity. The most important thing is not merely purchasing technology, but mastering the science behind that technology so that we can develop our own innovations and reduce dependence on imported products,” said Bamsoet.
The Deputy Chairman of the Golkar Party added that the success of national health transformation is largely determined by the quality of collaboration between the government, universities, hospitals, the technology industry, and research institutions. Therefore, the involvement of educational institutions is crucial to ensure that knowledge transfer takes place sustainably.
Several Indonesian universities have also begun exploring cooperation with various universities in China in the fields of radiology, hospital informatics, biomedical innovation, MRI technology, and health software development. This cooperation opens up opportunities for student, lecturer, and researcher exchanges, as well as more applicable joint research development.
“Indonesian universities must take a greater role in this collaboration. Campuses should not merely be users of technology, but must become centres for the birth of new innovations capable of addressing the health needs of the Indonesian people,” concluded Bamsoet.