Addressing the Commonwealth Health Ministers Conference, Minister de Silva said the development of health information systems and management information systems in hospitals are vital to sustainable development of health systems. Expanding e-health services in developing countries has been affected due to lack of bandwidth infrastructure around the country, especially in the rural areas where it could be most useful, Minister de Silva said.
“In Sri Lanka the government is currently addressing the limitation through the development of the telecommunication infrastructure which will be accessible to the health sector,” he emphasized.
He urged the Secretariat of Commonwealth and other international agencies to establish a mechanism to share technical e-health related materials, programmes and information among the Commonwealth countries undertaking e-health services.
Minister de Silva highlighted the fact that computer hard-ware and soft-ware required for e-health are often beyond the resource capacities of developing countries. It is high time for international agencies to develop an efficient mechanism as in the case of HIV/AIDS and Malaria medicines to make e-health soft-ware and hard-ware affordable to the developing countries.
He informed the delegates that the Ministry of Healthcare and Nutrition in Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Commonwealth Foundation and Commonwealth Secretariat had already planned to organize an International Commonwealth Conference on Climatic Change and Health in Sri Lanka in early May 2009.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Sandun A. Jayasekera
Quelle/Source: Daily Mirror, 21.05.2008
