Local tech solutions company Advanced Integrated Systems (AIS) has partnered with an India-based company, Suvarna Techno Soft Private Limited to implement an information and management system at the University Hospital of the West Indies. The hospital embarked on a plan to fully digitise and revamp its current technology platform on May 1, through a US$1-million investment, and expects to complete it by the end of the year.
Doug Halsall, chief executive officer of AIS, told journalists at the hospital's boardroom on Tuesday June 1, that the system would deliver end-to-end computerisation of the hospital, including registration, discharge, bed management and the management of drugs.
"In real time, records can be updated and made available. Access to the very latest in procedural best practices will be a key stroke away, and electronic prescriptions will lead to efficiency in dispensing of drugs and will eliminate mistakes," Halsall said.
"Today, we see the beginnings of the better utilisation of expertise by laying the foundations for telemedicine in all its forms. It's an important day in the delivery of health care in Jamaica and I know that the minister of health and his department are committed to making this nationwide and to having the best electronic patient information system, anywhere," he added
In India, the system is already in use in more than 150 hospitals and has helped the health-care providers to be more efficient and economical by integrating all departments under one roof such as registration, billing, radiology, scheduling, inventory, among others.
According to Shekar Sanumpudi, director of health applications at AIS, the system ensures that patients' best chance for recovery is no longer impaired by the loss of health records and that the efficiency in the management of drugs, acquired from scarce resources, will be at its best.
-Jamaica Gleaner