The World Health Organisation (WHO) has lauded Bhutan’s progress in maintaining health records of patients after the introduction of the electronic Patient Information System, ePIS, last year. This has helped in identifying how non-communicable diseases are increasingly becoming common among elderly citizens in the country. To encourage and strengthen the use of such systems in South-East Asia, the WHO is hosting a four-day regional workshop, which started yesterday in Paro.
During the workshop, delegates from each country are presenting their experiences and progress in implementing health information systems in their respective countries.
The workshop is also a platform for the participating countries to discuss their needs and priorities to improve the use of the Routine Health Information System, RHIS.
The RHIS stores data collected at regular intervals at public, private, and community-level health facilities, institutions, and health programmes.
From this workshop, the WHO aims for the participating countries to gain a wider understanding of the importance of data quality assurance through RHIS.
“I am very optimistic that Bhutan now has a very strong foundation as far as the information system is concerned, especially, at the patient level and it is now just a matter of concerted investments and building of capacities of your health workers to continue using RHIS systems for better health outcomes for preparedness for the future,” said Amani Siyam, the regional advisor of Health Information System, WHO Regional Office.
She added that accurate data collection in health facilities through health information systems helps in monitoring how effectively the healthcare services are provided and also for timely identification of disease patterns and interventions.
More than 100 participants from ten South-East Asian countries including Bhutan, officials from the WHO, and experts are attending the workshop.
Bhutan is hosting the workshop for the first time.
Namgay Dema
Edited by Kipchu
