Health professionals have called for bringing a paradigm shift in the way information is accessed and shared across the health system in Pakistan. They were speaking at the International eHealth Conference, which started here at University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Saturday. The two-day conference is being organised by eHealth Association of Pakistan. The theme of the conference is "Road to National eHealth Strategy for Pakistan."
Around 400 participants including medical students, Information Technology experts, health providers, policy makers and international experts on eHealth from Canada, United States, Britain. Switzerland, Spain, East Africa, Nepal, Philippines and Afghanistan are participating in this conference.
According to experts, the health system in Pakistan is straining to deal with increasing cost and demand pressures and a shortage of skilled healthcare workers. "We have to move away from a reliance on tools such as per, paper and human memory to an environment where patients, care providers and healthcare managers can reliably access and share health information in real time across geographic and health sector boundaries. The only way this can be achieved is through formulation and implementation of world class eHealth policy."
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Punjab Education Minister Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman said the government was taking all steps as it deemed necessary for the administration, promotion, development and use of information technology in the province. "Punjab government is providing free laptops to 100,000 brilliant students currently studying at public sector colleges and universities as a part of Chief Minster's e-Youth Initiative," he said, adding: "Computer labs have been established in all high schools of the province, he said adding that the motivation and enthusiasm behind these schemes was to help students rise above problems and hurdles they faced in their path to gain knowledge and excel professionally."
Mujtaba was of the opinion that eHealth technology could play crucial role in controlling epidemics such as polio and dengue fever through effective surveillance system. He further said that the government encouraged all such initiatives, which helped in the eradication of disease and the betterment of healthcare facilities.
UHS vice-chancellor Professor Malik Hussain Mubbashar said that better use of information technology should play a critical enabling role in implementing national healthcare reform and policy agendas and improving the efficiency, safety and ultimately the sustainability of our healthcare system. He announced to make eHealth an essential part of the curricula of various professional courses at UHS.
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