Medical Records Will Soon be Accessed by Any Doctor in UAE
All patients in the country will have single unified medical records which can be accessed by any doctor in the country through the Emirates Identity card by 2021.
The unified records will serve as a healthcare database and will record details of the patient – from the kind of treatment being undertaken to the medicines consumed. However, patient confidentiality will be at the forefront, reported Khaleej Times.
Besides reducing costs of unnecessary medical tests, the database will also cut down on medical errors, Ali Juma Alajme, Director of IT Management at the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHP), who is heading the project, reportedly said. At a later stage, it will also be linked to insurance companies.
He reportedly said that the project will be implemented in several phases. “A study is being carried out with all the health entities in the country to develop this roadmap,” he told Khaleej Times. “We are agreeing on a standard and moving to the unified platform,” he added.
The project is already well under way with the studies expected to be completed by the first quarter of this year, reported Khaleej Times.
In 2018, all government hospitals will be part of the project and private hospitals/health clinics will be linked between 2019 and 2021, he reportedly said.
Alajme reportedly said that the project was part of the ministry’s five-year strategy. “The same standards will be applicable across the board so the quality of data collected will be world class.”
The platform will also serve as a health database. “The data collected will help in decision-making and in addition will show a complete picture of the country’s healthcare needs. For example, we will be able to know how many beds are there in total in all hospitals, the kind of diseases etc.,” he added.
Healthcare facilities will have to update their systems to be part of the project.
The project has reportedly been modified to suit the UAE healthcare system after studies were carried out in Singapore and the USA, where similar models are already operating.
“The UAE has developed its own model and IP after studying these countries,” Alajme was quoted as saying by the news portal.
(Source: FilipinoTimes.ae)