In line with its commitment to accelerate the adoption of digital technology, Indonesia’s Ministry of Youth and Sports said it is set to implement an innovative programme that is expected to encourage the public to embrace healthy living.
The Ministry in a statement said that it is adopting the Fitness Measurement System earlier introduced by the Ministry of Health as it continues to synergise with other government institutions to encourage citizens to live fit through exercise.
The application, which can be readily accessed and downloaded from the Playstore, was already tried by the Ministry’s employees who seized the opportunity to do practice exercises. Through the application, employees entered their details, as well as some information on their current state of health.
One of the sample exercises that they tried was running for an initial 1.6 kilometres. Through the app, the employees were able to track their performance and know their fitness levels after the activity. The application also revealed pertinent information like the average time to complete one round of running activity, which is at around 12 minutes.
Participants during the practice run include the Deputy Secretary for Sports Culture of the Indonesian Ministry of Youth and Sports who completed the activity in 15 minutes. The Assistant Deputy for Recreational Sports Management of the Ministry of Youth and Sports also had the chance to test the effectiveness of the fitness app and clocked in good results. Both officials encouraged the public to download and try the new application.
Tracking health and fitness during the new normal
Raden Isnanta, the Deputy for Sports Culture of the Indonesian Ministry of Youth and Sports, expressed appreciation for the developers of the fitness app. He said that the programme is set to become an integral part of urging a bigger chunk of the public community to put their health on top of their priorities amidst the current COVID-19 health crisis.
The Deputy mentioned that there must be more collaboration with health agencies across the country to be able to put up new technologies for health and wellness. He also said that: “this is what we’ve been waiting for. With this application, we invite people in the country to exercise. We must strengthen the synergy. We hope people can continue to exercise and maintain their fitness. Now there is an information system, so let’s exercise. Let us strengthen synergy by taking good actions and steps so that the community can continue to move.”
For their part, officials at the Directorate of Occupational Health and Sports of the Ministry of Health said that the application offers a reliable examination and clear digital record of an individual’s overall physical condition. The advantage of using the app is that this examination can be done within a short period.
They added that through the mobile app, people can be persuaded to exercise anywhere and at any time they prefer. Although the health application has been around for quite some time, it still offers good measures of a person’s fitness levels. They also mentioned that: “on average, the community’s fitness level is good and sufficient. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Youth and Sports are both urging the public to maintain their physical fitness. Let us exercise while still paying attention to health protocols.”
The Indonesian government has been paving the way to amplify the role of digital technology in providing ease and convenience to the public and in boosting operations. As earlier reported by OpenGov Asia, the Ministry of Industry announced that it is supporting the Police 4.0 programme set to be adopted by the Indonesian National Police. This is a system that can provide a positive impact on certain industries, particularly those which manufacture hardware and software programmes used for artificial intelligence systems.