Significant Number of Medical Facilities Now Linked to the Electronic Health Records System
By: , October 31, 2024
Photo: Yhomo Hutchinson
Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, addressing Wednesday’s (October 30) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.The Full Story
Nearly all medical facilities islandwide targeted to be linked to the electronic health records system established by the Government have been onboarded.
This, according to Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton.
“You may recall that we had signed a contract with Cable and Wireless to connect 105 health centres and hospitals digitally, so information can flow between them and within those institutions as part of the electronic health records. I’m happy to announce that some 88 per cent of that target has been met so far and continues. So just over 90 of those facilities are now networked,” Dr. Tufton said.
He provided the update during Wednesday’s (October 30) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.
The health sector’s digital transformation falls under the Ministry’s Health Systems Strengthening Programme, for which a contract was signed with Cable and Wireless Jamaica Limited.
Dr. Tufton indicated that staff at medical facilities are being trained in using the new health records system.
He explained that the software captures patient data, stores it and makes it readily available in real time for ease of access and timely treatment.
Dr. Tufton said the improved records system is intended to strengthen the standard of care provided to patients, while pointing out that the platform is now fully operational at May Pen Hospital in Clarendon and Spanish Town Hospital in St. Catherine.
“When you turn up at Spanish Town Hospital and you give your name and you punch that in, your entire record comes up. [This makes it] much easier [for] the doctors and administrators to determine what your health history is, treatment history is, medication history is, what you’re allergic to, and the doctors can treat in a much shorter time as opposed to that physical file which is always a problem,” the Minister stated.
Dr. Tufton added: “This Government is modernising public health. We are building, we are upgrading, and the people of Jamaica will benefit from that.”