Govt hospitals to go paperless with HHIMS
Indunil Hewage
For the first time in the history of the Sri Lankan health sector,
government hospitals will go paperless with the newly developed Hospital
Health Information Management System (HHIMS). Accordingly, doctors in
government hospitals will have the opportunity to see a patient’s
comprehensive medical records on their computer screen.
The user-friendly, free open source software (HHIMS) is a joint
effort between the Information and Communication Technology Agency of
Sri Lanka (ICTA) and the Health Ministry.
This initiative has been implemented to assist the government
ambition to provide an improved service delivery to the public by using
ICT.
“According to ICTA Re-engineering Government Programme Director
Wasantha Deshapriya, the software has been tested in five hospitals -
Karavanella, Mawanella, Endegoda, Kitulgala, and Deraniyagala - in the
Kegalle District for over six months. At present, it is now ready to be
installed in other Government hospitals island-wide,” ICT agency report
said.
With the use of HHIMS, doctors will be able to make accurate
diagnoses on their patients by having a registration number and the
hospital staff will have the opportunity to carry out tests, give out
medication as per the doctor’s ‘prescription’ which is documented on the
electronic patient record available to them on their computer sc
“In the meantime, the system will save time and much paper work at
government hospitals and an indirect effect of the system is that the
medical staff has more time to attend to their patients,” Deshapriya
said. |