Contract sets the ball rolling for national digital health database |16 December 2019
A souvenir photograph after the signing ceremony (Photo: Jude Morel)
The Ministry of Health’s project to digitise patient records through a national Health Information System (HIS) is underway following the signing of a contract with India-based software solution provider Mamorama Infosolutions PVT Ltd, on Saturday December 14.
The signing ceremony was held at the Sheikh Khalifa Diagnostic Centre in the presence of Minister for Health Jean-Paul Adam, high commissioner of India to Seychelles Dalbir Singh Suhag, principal secretary for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Benjamin Choppy, the representatives of Manorama and of the Health Care Agency (HCA).
Chief executive of HCA, Dr Danny Louange, signed the contract on behalf of HCA terming the contract as a “milestone for the healthcare system in Seychelles”.
“It has been a journey but this journey is going to lead us into a very important change, improvements in our healthcare, in digitalising our national healthcare system. This will improve healthcare, will bring information online, will optimise resource allocation, and will have patient satisfaction improved significantly. It will allow us to have administrative control, administrative processes improved,” he said.
“This signing is important for every single citizen of Seychelles where they will have access to their medical information. Although the initial investment in this system is significant, it will enable us to do significant savings,” Dr Louange stated.
He went on to thank the government of Seychelles for pushing for the project despite numerous delays since 2011 when it was first announced, DICT for playing an instrumental role, as well as the government of India for facilitating the line of credit from Exim Bank, India, through which the project is being financed.
Representative of Manorama, Rajiv Alaphade, also spoke of the relations between the two countries spanning back decades ago and outlined the benefits of the system.
“We are very proud and honoured to be part of the development of Seychelles. With this project, it will not only lead to digitising the patient records, but it is going to benefit each citizen of Seychelles in a very different manner, in the sense that it will be connected to your NIN and can therefore be accessed from anywhere around the world on a digital device,” Mr Alaphade explained.
He too thanked DICT and the other partners, and committed to delivering the software before the contract’s stipulated one-year timeline.
Manorama Infosolutions PVT Ltd was awarded the contract, worth USD 2.4 million earlier this year in June, to design and set up the required software on which patient’s confidential medical records will be kept, allowing individual patients and health professionals to access such information, based on patient’s unique National Identification Numbers (NIN).
The HIS is a comprehensive system that integrates all the departments in an international level hospital, automates most of its major functions and extends these throughout the whole national healthcare system. The system to be made available at Seychelles Hospital proposes several benefits and will comprise features such as multiple level security, graphical user interface, web compatibility, barcode compatibility and drug database integration.
It is expected to improve the quality of healthcare by facilitating daily operations such as patient registration, appointments, ordering tests, patient records and the coordination between health facilities.
Laura Pillay