(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) says that more than 5 million patients (5,047,798) have been registered in 40 government hospitals digitalized under the Digital Health Project.
The Digital Health Project is a collaborative project being implemented by ICTA and the Ministry of Health to establish electronic medical record systems in selected Government hospitals.
The hospital health information management system (HHIMS) developed by ICTA with the support of the Ministry of Health was implemented in 40 Government hospitals under this project.
The overall objective of the project is to improve quality, safety, efficiency and patient centeredness in the service delivery of Sri Lankan state health sector using information and Communication Technology.
A National Project Steering Committee, Provincial Project Steering Committees, and Hospital Steering Committees were formed with the representatives of the Ministry of Health, Provincial Departments of Health Services, and ICTA to direct/guide the project implementation at different levels.
The project provided computer hardware, software, network and training for the selected hospitals to establish Electronic Medical Records Systems.
Relevant software records show that the state has registered over 134 million (13,456,153) patient cases under the Health Services Digitization Program.
Under this digitalization project, when a patient receives treatment from a hospital, he or she will receive a barcode with a personal health number, under which the details of the patient, disease, and the treatment obtained, the relevant medical reports, etc. will be entered into the management system.
Therefore, all services including treatment to the patient can be performed in a very systematic and efficient manner. Also, if the patient has to go to the hospital again, it will be easier and faster for the doctor to process the information and make a diagnosis as the history of the patient has already been recorded under the barcode number with the personal health number.
