The government will soon sign a contract for the development of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) system aimed at digitising medical records, thereby revolutionising the health sector.
Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony made this announcement Saturday evening, at the graduation ceremony for the Masters Certificate in Healthcare and Physician Leadership programme at Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Georgetown.
He explained that the initiative is part of the ministry’s broader digital health strategy, which will be rolled out over the coming years.
“At some point, you will have an app on your phone, and you’ll be able to see all your health information on the app. Right now, we are working on that. And maybe in another month, we will be signing a contract with a company that would allow us to do that,” the health minister further stated.
The EHR will be an integrated and efficient system, containing a patient’s medical history, diagnoses, medications, treatments, and test results.
This will enable healthcare providers to make optimal decisions regarding patient care, improving the overall experience at health institutions across the country.
An evaluation team, which includes the Mount Sinai Health System, has been tasked with ensuring that the best system is selected. Sixteen companies have submitted bids to design, supply, and install the electronic system.
The project is being funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), with approximately $1 billion allocated this year to advance the development of the EHR and upgrade software in numerous areas.
“While we are working on that part of it, we’re also doing telemedicine and telehealth, and that too, has been transformational. We are seeing how these changes are impacting the lives of people in very remote communities,” Minister Anthony underscored.
With the rapid expansion of the health sector, the minister also highlighted that contracts will be signed by the end of 2024 for the construction of five more hospitals, providing quality healthcare to the populace.
While the government is ensuring that the necessary infrastructure and equipment are in place, the human resource capacity is also being strengthened with approximately 1,500 persons currently being trained as registered nurses.
“This, perhaps, is the first wave of changes that we are going to see … But, as we advance in these directions, we are also going to be changing the things around healthcare…And that would be part of the next phase of what we will be doing because we want to create a biomedical hub that can contribute to the innovations that we will be seeing in the healthcare sector,” Dr Anthony pointed out.
These innovative interventions are part of the government’s broader efforts to have a world-class healthcare system.