LAHORE, Jan 21: Health experts have called for a fundamental shift in the way information is accessed and shared in the health care system in the country.
Speaking at the third international e-health conference at the University of Health Sciences here on Saturday, they said there was a need to move away from a reliance on tools such as paper and human memory to an environment where patients, care providers and health care managers could reliably access and share health information in real time across geographic and health sector boundaries. The only way this could be achieved was through formulation and implementation of world class ehealth policy, they said. The two-day conference has been organised by e-Health Association of Pakistan. The theme of the conference is 'Road to National e-Health Strategy for Pakistan'. Its aim is to identify and prioritise areas of e-health development in Pakistan that can lead to the formation of a National eHealth Strategy for the country. During the conference there shall be panel discussions, paper presentations, scientific poster competitions, keynote addresses and work-shops on e-Health technology.
A good number of health and IT experts, medical students, health providers, policy makers and international experts on e-health from Canada, the US, the UK, Switzerland, Spain, East Africa, Nepal, Philippines and Afghanistan are participating.
Punjab Education Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman said: 'The Punjab government is providing free laptops to 100,000 brilliant students currently studying at public sector institutions that will help them pursue their academic goals'.
He said the e-health technology could play a crucial role in controlling epidemics such as polio and dengue through effective surveillance system.
UHS Vice-Chancellor Prof Husain Mubbashar said better use of information technology should play a critical enabling role in implementing national health care reform and policy agendas and improving the efficiency, safety and ultimately the sustainability of our health care system. He announced making ehealth an essential part of the curricula of various professional courses at the UHS.
The World Health Organisation's regional focal person for e-Health, HaniFarouk, said e-health should be viewed as both the essential infrastructure underpinning information exchange between all participants in a health care system and as a key driver of improved health outcomes.
He said the WHO had recognised e-health as the way to achieve cost-effectiveness and secure use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for health and related fields, and urged its member states to consider drawing up long-term strategic plans for developing and implementing eHealth services and infrastructure in their health sectors.
President e-Health Association of Pakistan Dr.
Haroon Roedad Khan said the conference had been dedicated to Arfa Karim Randhawa to honour her exceptional work and her efforts in the field of information and communication technology. He also announced 'Arfa Karim Gold Medal' for the best paper on e-health every year.
Dr. Richard E. Scott, Dr.
Esther Ogara, Nuwan Waidyanatha, Dr. Ronald C.
Merrell, Dr. Zafar Iqbal Qadir, Dr. Syed Aoun Abbas, Prof.
S.K. Mishra, Sania Nishtar, Dr.
Abdus Salam Khan, Dr.
Shariq Khoja, and Dr. Sikder M. Zakir also spoke.