IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

There were 417 recorded cancer patients in Bahrain last year, but the figures could be higher because not all sufferers were reported to the country's central cancer monitoring centre. Plans have now been drawn up to expand the Bahrain Cancer Registry and make it mandatory for all private hospitals to report all cancer patients they are treating.

It is estimated that for every 10 cancer cases reported to the centre, one is not, said Health Ministry Medical Review Office head Dr Jamal Al Sayyad.

About 20 government services will be offered to the public through electronic transactions by April next year, it was revealed yesterday.

The government is making an all out effort to help citizens and residents to benefit from the new e-transaction law, said Central Informatics Organisation (CIO) Under-Secretary Mohammed Al Amer.

Authorities are hoping to gauge the private sector's expectations of the new e-government initiative through a survey for businessmen available online.

The survey, prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was presented to a limited number of private sector representatives at a meeting at the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) yesterday.

With the news to have the smart card compulsory by next month, Bahrain is just one step away from a completely digitised economy. The law making smart card mandatory will make the Kingdom ahead of many countries in the region to switch over to the new digital economy. This smart card technology is much safer in use and there are minimal chances of frauds in financial transactions as well as in day-to-day affairs.

The director of technical resources and head of Smart Card project at the Kingdom's Central Informatic Organisation (CIO), Elham Mohammed Saleh, says switching over to the smart card technology is a step forward to achieving excellence in this highly specialised segment of the cyber age.