According to a top health official, the effort to digitize Seychelles’ public health system’s services has already moved into its second phase and is progressing well.
According to Danny Louange, CEO of the Health Care Agency (HSA), the initial goal was to establish a health information system, but “we are looking at something broader than just a health information system, but we want it to be a health management information system.”
A $4 million line of credit from the Indian government is being used to pay for the software of the electronic health system.
The Agency and Manorama Infosolutions, a provider of software solutions based in India, agreed to a contract in December 2019 to start the project.
After that, according to Louange, the health authorities held a project planning meeting in July 2020 and got to work testing and customizing the software.
The waiting rooms at all public hospitals and clinics were connected to the system in March 2021, and the health authorities examined the potential problems.
The electronic medical records (EMR) of the various clinics where the doctors uploaded the data into the electronic system were subject to this in October of last year.
The Agency “is looking at making sure that all the doctors are using the electronic medical records,” Louange told SNA. While some doctors continue to take handwritten notes, all physicians now have access to electronic medical records.
He continued, “PSH is traveling from one health center to the other to expressly train them since it requires training for them to get used to it.
According to Louange, “access to the information is limited depending on the various roles in the health authority” for confidentiality reasons.
“While a doctor may access all medical files, in the systems, for the dentists it will be dental medical records and nurses will be limited to the nursing component,” he outlined the process.
The health authorities are currently concentrating on the outpatient component, and the next stage will involve the posting of blood results online in the upcoming weeks.
This will enable a doctor to check patient results online from any location, according to Louange, who told SNA that it will link lab findings with medical data.
The pharmaceutical sections and sick leave will come next.
“Doctors will not need to fill up sick notes but they will rather be generated electronically. For instance, if someone gets a sick leave from the Seychelles Hospital and then visits the Baie Lazare clinic the next day, the clinic will have the information on hand,” explained Louange.
He noted that because there are hardware and software components to consider, it would be challenging to provide a precise date for when the system will be totally electronic.
The Agency is still working on acquiring the necessary gear, which includes standard PCs with the added function of being mobile for the wards and portable devices that nurses can use while making rounds.
“What is also important is barcode printers and barcode readers, which will help when carrying out tests such as blood tests. Once a patient has the tests done, the code will then be on their forms which in turn will reduce errors,” said Louange
Using this new strategy, he continued, will prevent patients from having the same test performed twice because they attended multiple clinics and the information is not linked, as now happens.
Similar rules would apply to prescriptions. “If someone has visited a doctor in a clinic on Monday and has been prescribed painkillers, even though they go back on Wednesday, their records will show how much medicine they got on their initial visit,” the CEO noted.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is hosting the servers, but there are plans for the Agency to have its own unique server at its own offices.