The Ministry of Health, represented by the Information and Communication Technology Department in collaboration with Intel Corporation, recently offered a workshop entitled “E-Health and Changes in the Health Technologies Field.”
The two-day workshop’s agenda included discussions on number of vital topics. At the opening of the workshop, Advisor to the Minister & General Supervisor of ICT, Dr. Mohammed R. Al Yemeni, talked about the importance of the National e-Health Strategy Project and its technologies as they relate to other projects to implement e-government throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Under the guidance of His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Rabeeah, the Ministry has given a high level of importance to the use of state-of-the-art information and communications technology. The Ministry believes that electronic healthcare technology can have a positive impact upon the daily lives and health of our citizens.
According to its own strategic plan, the Information and Communication Technology Department is unifying health-related electronic transactions. The department is currently implementing approximately 100 large-scale technical projects within the framework of the E-Health National Project. The goal of the E-health National Project is to develop healthcare services in the Kingdom according to the highest possible standards, a health system which monitors and supports the patient's health according to the e-health system’s stringent criteria.
The E-Health National Strategy is based upon four main pillars. The first pillar mandates the improvement of services to provide better patient care. The second pillar establishes effective connectivity between all MOH hospitals, linking them to a national database. The third pillar is facilitating patient referrals. The fourth pillar is the Performance Measurement Program.
Assistant Director of the MOH Projects Management Office, Engineer Ahmed Al Hudaithy, listed the ICT’s current projects, both newly-implemented and long-standing. New projects include: E-Health National Strategy, the design of the portal, E-mail Solution- development for the MOH’s email infrastructure, GIS, E-Catalog, unifying electronic medical licensing procedures (in cooperation with El-Elm company),implementing the 1stphase of E-Morasalat, Sentinel Event Application, E-Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in MOH hospitals, and Clinical Audit (an electronic system to follow up on the quality of hospital services), the development of a patient e-referendum system in coordination with the Patient Rights Department and updating the contents of the main network in the Ministry’s Divan.
He added that additional programs have been approved and will be launched soon. These include a project to supply, operate and maintain the Divan’s computer system, the implementation of the E-Health Projects Management Office (PMO) and a program to organize and development financial and administrative affairs.
Other projects have been proposed as well. One of the proposed projects is production of a requirements and specifications pamphlet) for the Infant Protection Electronic System using RFID technology. Another proposed project is the requirements and specifications pamphlet for the electronic system for Poison Control Centers (OTARR). Three additional requirements and specifications pamphlets to operate and maintain ICT infrastructure in 59 hospitals and 150 health centers are also planned, and will be distributed regionally throughout the Kingdom.
Eng. Ahmed Al Hudaithy concluded his remarks with additional information about new projects, such as the preparation of requirements and specifications pamphlets for the administrative and financial procedures system development project in the Ministry (ERP), e-Health Data National Center Development Project and the Health Information Systems implementation project (HIS). He also mentioned the transfer of the Bed Management System to the MOH data center, where it will be supervised and developed by the MOH ICT team.
HIS Project Manager, Eng. Mansour Al Suwaidan, stated that the HIS system follows the strategic plan developed for the project at the Ministry of Health to serve the interests of the public during the next planning period. The HIS system is an integrated electronic system for linking health information to better organize and manage hospital operations. This system is applied from the time the patient enters and registers at the hospital to receive tests, procedures, hospitalization and medications, and also serves to integrate administrative procedures between hospitals.
The HIS e-system aims to create a unified e-system for business management in all MOH hospitals to improve and facilitate all administrative procedures. The system also aims to reduce the use of paper in administrative processes to decrease environmental and economic impacts; paperless transactions also lower the risk of loss of or damage to vital records and information.
The Director of E-Marketing and Communication, Mr. Saadbin Abdulaziz Al Ajlan, said that this workshop was being held due to the ICT Department’s vital interest in improving communications between MOH and all government and private sector facilities. Improved communication channels will deliver the Ministry’s vision and goals and inform the public about the accomplishments of the E-Health National Project. It will also solidify the cooperation between the Ministry of Health and related organizations to help MOH provide better health services to all.
According to Mr. Al Ajlan, the workshop was attended by a number of officials. The first day was attended by officials from the MOH. The second day’s session was attended by officials from the Ministry of Interior, National Information Center, Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Finance and other organizations. In addition, representatives from the private sector also participated in the workshop, including staff from Saudi Telecommunications Company, the National Company for Unified Purchasing, the E-Government Program (Yesser), medical insurance companies, health commissions and other government and private hospitals.
At the end of the workshop, the audience asked questions and raised various topics for discussion.