Topics such as e-Health's priorities and strategies, as well as its impact on the nation, were discussed during a presentation made by Dr Hj Sablee Hj Aspar, the Director of Health Care Technology Services under the Ministry of Health, at yesterday's health conference at the International Convention Centre (ICC).
With the implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Sultanate's health sector, it is hoped that improvements will be made on the quality of medical care for the people of Brunei, the geographic coverage of health care, the economics of health care, the management of hospitals and clinics, as well as the education and training of health care staff.
Furthermore, with the ICT system, health care personnel can manage their time more efficiently by focusing on patients instead of disseminating information through public awareness campaigns.
By adopting ICT, there will be a decrease in the number of "unnecessary" patient referrals. In other words, less time will be spent on "wasteful repetition" of conducting check-ups and diagnostic tests.
Evidence from other countries showed that as a result of adopting ICT into their health care system, the time that nurses spend on patients has increased by 50 per cent, while the time it takes to restock supplies for wards has been cut down from three days to half a day.
In Mexico, unnecessary referrals were cut down by 70 per cent, while the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Saudi Arabia reported a "very significant" boost in its finances.
Brunei hopes to improve its existing health care services by incorporating ICT. There are plans to introduce an "Integrated National Health Care Management Information System" in all hospitals and clinics in the Sultanate. The new system will be compatible with the National Patient Database and National Electronic Medical Record System.
It is hoped that by adopting the new ICT system, which is inline with Brunei's e-Government initiative, it will make it easier for the population to schedule appointments, access their medical records, place orders for prescriptions and seek counselling.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Ben Ng
Quelle/Source: Brunei Direct, 16.11.2007
