The Government has started implementing the National Health Information and E-Health Strategy, ahead of the pilot phase of the Electronic Patient Administration System (e-PAS), geared at linking patients’ records to all medical facilities. Since October 2014, implementation of the system at the Santa Cruz and Darliston Centres of Excellence has resulted in 13,000 records being created. This was noted by Minister of Health, Dr Fenton Ferguson, while making his contribution to the 2015/2016 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representative, today.
“Each patient will have a single electronic health record with a unique Universal Person Identifier. If you walk into Santa Cruz, your data will be electronically captured, and if you go to Darliston, all your information would be readily available,” the minister said. “We will eventually link all our facilities, so that we can have continuity of care and easily accessible patient records for more efficient and effective service,” the minister added,; noting that some $30 million is earmarked from the National Health Fund (NHF), to complete implementation of the system at health facilities in St Elizabeth. He said work on the design of the system network is completed, and with support from e-Gov Jamaica, the Universal Service Fund (USF) commissioned connectivity points at 59 of 60 points, through a $26-million grant from the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining. The minister told the House that the Government will be restructuring health services, due to a major shift in population, with more urbanization; growth in the elderly group, and shifts in poverty levels, as well as the burden of diseases affecting the health sector. “Through Cabinet approval, we are moving forward with the Renewal of Primary Health Care policy, to help realign the primary health care network and infrastructure to address the population shift,” he outlined. Through support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Government has completed a comprehensive review of the burden of illnesses, estimates and analysis of major issues affecting the health sector, “and this year we will begin the process of designing a 10-year development plan for the sector, to ensure realignment with shifts in population and disease burden.”
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Quelle/Source: Jamaica Observer, 05.05.2015
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