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The minister of health and wellness is forging ahead with legislation for a National Health Insurance Plan (NHIP). The Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) recently hosted a public forum to engage citizens on the matter.

The event highlighted some important considerations that are needed to flesh out this vision, including citizen partnership and acceptance, private sector buy-in and partnership, and a requirement for the involvement of technology at all levels of the system.

Jamaica has long been engaged in strategies to manage population health. From the establishment of the Extended Programme on Immunisation in 1977 to the 1978 Alma Ata declaration which focused on the need to shore up the primary healthcare system.

Efforts have consistently continued along these lines and, admittedly, we have made much progress over the last few decades.

Although we have seen an improvement in general life expectancy, which was 76 years as at 2016, we seem to be going backwards with the increasing incidence of non-communicable diseases.

It's an established fact — not always given sufficient thought — that a successful nation is not built overnight. It happens brick by brick. And, in the case of the world's leading powers, the process took hundreds of years.

Crucial to nation building is the coming together of people, oneness — a common identity spurred by goals, achievements, and, of course, the survival instinct.

Inevitably from this oneness comes a collective pride, popularly referred to as national pride.

The proposed National Identification System (NIDS) has been the source of contentious debate for the last few weeks.

Jamaica is actually late in the game in providing some sort of system of this type to ensure a proper database of its citizens, which will improve the country's ability to put in place effective structures and programmes that will adequately capture the needs of the population.

The United States, for example, can track and manage its welfare services through the social-security number issued to every citizen at birth and kept until death.

When I heard the announcement from the National Health Fund (NHF) late last year that the agency would be moving towards putting things in place for the development of a National Health Insurance Plan (NHIP) I was a little sceptical.

After all, administration after administration had said this very same thing but nothing ever came to fruition.

I was heartened when I recently saw that the NHF requested submissions for a consultant to examine and begin the process.

Advanced Integrated Systems (AIS) has rolled out its National Patient Information System (NPIS) to government-operated pharmacies in hospitals even as it pushes for take-up by doctors in private practice.

The NPIS was added to government-operated Drug Serv pharmacies a few months ago, but is just being introduced to the hospitals pharmacies, AIS chairman and CEO Doug Halsall told Gleaner Business.

At least four pharmacies are added to the platform per month, Halsall said.

Tech company Advanced Integrated Systems (AIS) is hoping to tap government and private sector clientele for its new electronic hospital management system, which it wants to roll out nationally.

The National Patient Information System (NPIS) will first be tested at the University Hospital of the West Indies.

AIS has made its pitch to the Government and is now awaiting feedback on whether the plan will be considered for the island's 25 hospitals and 300 clinics, said Chairman and CEO Doug Halsall.

Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS) says it is now conducting a mobile money pilot with technology provider Advanced Integrated Systems (AIS) and its American partner Quisk.

JMMB and Lasco Financial Services Limited (LFSL) are also in talks with AIS and Quisk to use their cloud platform to launch their offerings; while conglomerate GraceKennedy Limited is in the second month of its own pilot.

President and CEO of VMBS Courtney Campbell said the building society is to submit its request to the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) for approval for its mobile product.