‘Patient ID to help doctors access case history online’

Health minister reviews national hospital management information system


Our Correspondent November 02, 2021
Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho (@AzraPechuho) | Twitter

KARACHI:

National hospital management information system data must be accessible at a provincial level and its policy must be made available to all hospitals in its network to help healthcare professionals better treat the patients, said Sindh Helath Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho on Monday.

The health minister held a meeting on the implementation of One Patient, One ID - Federal Government Hospital Management Information Systems (OPOID FGHMIS), a statement said.

This system of online data sharing of patients' case history will be applied to all public primary, secondary and tertiary hospitals. The meeting was attended by Health Secretary Dr Kazim Jatoi, Parliamentary Secretary Health Qasim Soomro, Special Assistant to CM on IT Tanzeela Umme Habiba Qambrani, National IT Board Project Director General and others.

The minister was presented an overview on the functions of Hospital Management Information Systems (HMIS) and how it will enable OPOID programme across the country.

The presentation was from the National IT Board Project Director General office to which Dr Pechuho pointed to the concern regarding the privacy of the patients, which she said was of significant importance to the credibility and functionality of the programme.

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The minister also said the national hospital management information system data must be accessible at a provincial level and its policy must be made available to all hospitals in its network.

This accumulation, archiving and access to this data is a valuable project to undertake and it will enable diseases, infections and illnesses to be analysed and curbed in time. The minister stated that this health system aligned with NADRA should be provided with the best cyber security in order to protect the sensitive data of the people and patients in it. She also said that OPOID is integral to understanding a patient's medical history and advised the National IT Board to implement this system in Sindhs tertiary hospitals in the initial stages.

Dr Pechuho suggested that the system be available in Sindhi and other regional languages in order to make it accessible to the most amount of people in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2nd, 2021.

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