IT Application in Health Sector Narrowing Gaps between Healthcare and Community

Recently, a lot of international and national seminars and meetings have been held online by the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, which means that all exchanges and directions to different issues of human resource training, cholera and A/H1N1 flu prevention and control have been dealt with via Internet-connected computers. The online seminar entitled “Healthcare human resources” 2008 that was chaired by Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien with three bridgeheads of the Ministry of Health, the Ho Chi Minh City-based Pasteur Institute and the Hue Central General Hospital is a prominent example. The seminar with the participation of 100 representatives from different areas at each bridgehead had helped save VND300 million (US$17,751) compared with the spending on meeting organization in Hanoi. Participants also admitted that it would save more money to expand application of this form of meeting instead of gathering provincial representatives at the capital as present while seminars between district and provincial health officials are held online.

 

According to estimates by online meetings of the Ministry of Health in particular and the health sector in general, this kind of activity has not yet been regularly organized due to limited Internet transmission lines. Additionally, it is obvious that healthcare infrastructure is still rudimentary and outdated at district and communal levels, which is attributed to scattered and limited investment in the healthcare infrastructure and the absence of independent IT projects. Moreover, general designs for IT application at medical stations are uncompleted and asynchronic, which has resulted in IT applying failure by many units at grass-root level. As of December 2008, only 8 percent of clinics nationwide used computers and 0.05 percent of those computers were connected with Internet and some medical units even access Internet by dial-up. There are absences of IT application software for the sector, national health data and IT services for administrative reform and operations by the ministry. Professional personnel at medical units are insufficient, imbalance, unprompted and asynchonic, which are the core weaknesses of the health sector. In addition, medical units are puzzled over a range of legal documents on IT application in the heath sector and there are absences of clear regulations on responsibility of IT experts, capital sources, and regulations on organisation and functions of IT institutions in the health sector.

In 2009, the health sector has targeted to quickly implement some Internet portal services of granting operation licences and certificates, setup of drug companies and issuing registered serials of drugs. These activities will be also undertaken at all medical units nationwide this year. From 2010, the Ministry of Health will apply granting licences via Internet for importing medical equipment and facilities, chemicals and vaccines as well as registration for food safety and hygiene standards. The national data on healthcare, provision healthcare, management of drugs, vaccines and medical bio-products, legal documents, medical personnel, medical equipment and facilities, general medicines and pharmaceuticals, and natural disaster prevention would be also formed based on the general data base to serve enterprises and people. The ministry targets that half of exchanges between the ministry and central and local medical units will be conducted online in order to mitigate inconvenience in using paper documents as previous. The Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), a leading unit in fostering IT application and development in the health sector, has announced its programmes to realise the Cooperation Agreement with the Health Ministry that was signed in January 2009. Specifically, VNPT will provide the Ministry of Health with high-speed Internet transmission lines to serve key national projects in accordance with decisions by the Prime Minister and projects on distance health consultancy and checkups (Telemedicine), public Internet, administrative reform, businesspeople and online licensing, etc. Particularly, with its advantages in providing high-quality online meeting services, VNPT will also support provision of Video Conference upon demand by the Health Ministry to hold distance meetings between the Hanoi-based Ministry of Health and the ministry’s Ho Chi Minh City-based representative office and cities and provinces across the country.

 

VNPT will connect ADSL Internet networks for hospitals, institutes, medical universities and centre nationwide upon the demand by the Ministry of Health at preferential costs and the best technical assistance. Also, VNPT will provide broad-band Internet connection equipment for schools, institutes and hospitals of the health sector while coordinating with partners to carry out training programmes to provide IT knowledge for 1,000 medical staffs across the country. Early, VNPT had launched a preferential Internet programme for the health sector by cutting a maximal of half of broad-band Internet access service fees for Mega VNN. Beneficiaries were individuals and organisations of the health sector including medical units, medical intermediate schools, colleges and universities nationwide; medical staffs, students and people operating in the health sector. VNPT has also cooperated with Intel group to supply computers for the health sector at preferential prices.

 

According to the statistics by VNPT, the group has been coordinating with the Ministry of Health to carry out a programme entitled “VNPT-for public healthcare”, through which VNPT will support Internet transmission lines and technical infrastructure to provide information, health consultancy and healthcare services for the community including forming a website on healthcare to provide information about public healthcare, collaborating with partners of the Ministry of Health to form a website on healthcare and disease propaganda and holding propaganda activities to help people at all classes understand and have access to public healthcare information.