UAE online care on track

A five-year plan to digitise government hospitals and clinics is on target for completion, a spokesperson for the UAE Ministry of Health has said, with a quarter of facilities slated to go live at the end of 2008.

The move will see a countrywide Health Information System (HIS) put in place to connect government facilities, removing paperwork from the health service entirely.

Patient records will be online in all government units, so complete medical histories can be accessed from any part of the country.

The estimated AED200 million (US$54 million) scheme is designed to modernise care and cut delays, though critics have warned that the complexity of the programme means teething problems are inevitable.

"We are concerned about training doctors and nurses to use the system," admitted the Ministry's spokesperson.

But staff whose facilities will be targeted in the first phase of the project have reacted with enthusiasm, the spokesperson continued. "Each centre is willing to take the system on board, so that has been a great relief."

The Ministry has remained tight-lipped on the name of the software company heading up the programme, but has revealed that tenders have been finalised and a formal announcement will be made in the next month. Siemens Medical, Misys Healthcare and Hicom Technologies are all reported to be in the running for the contract.

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