E-governance is an initiative by governmental institutions to raise the quality of services offered to citizens and businesses using information technology.
“If there is a failure in the implementation of the e-governance, it is not the system that is responsible but some bureaucrats who do not want efficiency and achievements,” Prince Muqrin said after the formal opening of the second National Conference on E-Health organized by the Saudi Scientific Society for Health Informatics on Monday.
The Health Affairs Department at the National Guard and King Saud University for Health Sciences are the co-sponsors of the three-day event.
“The government wanted to simplify the formalities and minimize people’s burden with the help of e-governance and thus serve them better,” Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper quoted Prince Muqrin as saying.
The prince added that the success of the first e-health conference organized by the society in 2006 was a boost to hold the second conference this year. “The deliberations of the present conference would help the people of the Kingdom to keep pace with the modern technological advancement in the world,” said the prince who on Monday received a membership of the International Medical Informatics Association.
“The Saudi leaders now focus on building a national cadre that can adapt with the rapid growth in the world,” the prince said.
He said that with the implementation of the e-health system, people would be assigned unified numbers with their health cards which would simplify and speed up hospital services such as laboratory examinations, diagnosis and treatment. It would also save billions of riyals for the government, he said.
In his address to the meeting, Health Minister Dr. Hamad Al-Manie stressed the determination of the Ministry of Health to implement the e-health system in the health sector shortly. “Adoption of information technology is a strategic goal that would undoubtedly improve the quality of health services at a lower cost,” Al-Manie said.
Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Muhammad Jameel Mulla said the national strategy for telecommunications and information technology included the development of new IT solutions in the medical service sector.
Mulla added that the strategy involved the application of e-activities in the administration of hospitals and health centers, building up a unified e-medical file of all patients and the spreading of the application of the telemedicine system.
Speaking on the occasion, Hussain Al-Jazairi, regional director of the World Health Organization for the Middle East, said that major obstacles in merging the electronic health files were the lack of systematic and concerted efforts and cooperation between various countries. He appealed to the concerned authorities to prepare a national organizational structure for e-health affairs in each country of the region.
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Quelle/Source: Arab News, 20.03.2008
