Introduce electronic records of patients

Speakers at a discussion yesterday stressed the need for introducing electronic health records (EHR) at hospitals and clinics across the country, to help improve the healthcare sector.

They said the advanced information technology will be beneficial in reducing error in storing medical data of patients and the subject should also be included in the curriculum of health professionals.

Bangladesh University of Health Sciences (BUHS) and Rockefeller Foundation jointly arranged the seminar on “Prospects of Electronic Health Record in Bangladesh” at the BUHS campus in the capital.

Md Zahidul Islam, a medical officer at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said EHR will help doctors to know complete and updated information about patients at any stage of treatment.

The government has conducted a successful pilot project in this regard at a hospital in Gazipur in 2015, he added.

However, lack of interest from hospitals and insufficiency of trained personnel remains a challenge for implementing the EHR system in Bangladesh, he said.

Dr Ali H Rashidee, president and chief executive officer of eHealth Solutions, said as knowledge and information in the medical sector grow fast, EHR will be very beneficial to healthcare professionals.

The computerised medical records on EHR will keep doctors updated about the patient including their ailment, diagnosis, course of treatment and medication, said Dr Rashidee, also a visiting faculty at BUHS.

Advancement of information technology in medical science has become inevitable and Bangladesh should embrace its benefit, he added.

Ashish Kumar Saha, director of Management Information System and line director of Healthcare Information System and eHealth at DGHS, said the government is working to successfully implement the EHR system in Bangladesh.

Sharmin Parveen, associate professor and head of the department of Health Informatics at BUHS, and IT expert Ferdous Alam, among others, spoke at the discussion.