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.