– expected to be completed before year-end
The Ministry of Health has begun digitalising patient records at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) as part of efforts to modernise Guyana’s public healthcare system.
Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony said the initiative, which was first tested at the Festival City Polyclinic, is now being expanded to the country’s main public hospital.
On the ‘Starting Point’ Podcast on Sunday, he explained that implementing the system at GPHC is more complex because of the hospital’s multiple departments and large patient volume.
“So, in another couple of weeks, we are going to be able to roll that out at the outpatient department. Then they will go from one department to another. I would say it’s going fairly well, but it’s a very complex process. We have thousands of patient records. So, making sure that these things are accurate is very important,” he said.
Once completed, the digital system is expected to significantly improve efficiency in accessing the patient records.
“You will have your record on your phone if you like and you can move from one point to another and that record would be with you,” the minister explained.
The minister highlighted another major benefit of the system. He said this is improved access to medication histories.
The health minister said the government hopes to complete the first phase of the GPHC digitalisation project by the end of the year.
Once the system is evaluated, the ministry intends to expand it to other public hospitals.
“The intention is to have the entire public health system connected and using these records,” Dr Anthony said.
He added that the ministry also plans to work with private healthcare providers to integrate this system for a more seamless transfer of patient information between facilities.
Moreover, he revealed plans to introduce clinical decision-making software for doctors.
The software can flag potentially harmful drug interactions when multiple medications are prescribed together, allowing doctors to review and override alerts if necessary.
“So, all of this is going to help to improve the quality of care, and that’s what we are trying to do,” he emphasised.
(EXTRACTED FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INFORMATION)