WINDHOEK, Dec. 3 — Namibia’s Minister of Health and Social Services on Friday launched a five-year National eHealth system to promote Digital Health and well-being for people of all ages.
Namibia’s Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr. Kalumbi Shangula said Namibia’s patient medical records are largely paper-based, making the verification process lengthy and cumbersome, adding that the rapid advancement in information and communications technology (ICT) has made it possible to use real-time data to enable, among others, proper planning, resource allocation and ensure health security by strengthening disease monitoring and surveillance.
“The implementation of eHealth strategy is, therefore, a transformation initiative that will not merely change the existing manual medical records system to an electronic one but also seeks to change the way health-related information is collected, shared, communicated, and analyzed to improve decision-making and patient care. It will allow healthcare workers to capture, access, and share patient information promptly across geographical and health sector boundaries using information and communication technologies that are fit for purpose securely and reliably,” said Shangula.
“We will apply eHealth solution to consult and manage patients remotely. We shall apply eHealth solution to manage patient records and make them available wherever they will be required to the convenience of the patients,” said the minister.
WHO Representative Dr. Charles Sagoe-Moses said that the paradigm shift includes transitioning from reliability on manual analog tools such as paper-based records and human memory to an environment where patients/clients, healthcare providers, and healthcare managers, can reliably and securely access and share health information in real-time, across geographic and health sector boundaries.
“The implementation of the eHealth within the public sector of Namibia has great potential to support the provision of quality health services to the Namibian population and contribute to the achievement of Universal Health Coverage,” said Shangula.
Namibia’s eHealth Strategy will be implemented over a five-year period from 2021-2025 – XINHUA
