West

Important strides have been made in health sectors worldwide to move forward with achieving a complete digital ecosystem with electronic medical records (EMR) central to this.

Jamaicans are highly suspicious of technology, especially those that require the sharing of personal information. I was recently privy to a discussion among doctors and they were of the view that there should be great concern if EMR is implemented in government health facilities as too many people would be able to access individuals' health records.

HEALTHCARE IS driven by market forces just like any other business. While it is not the conventional, product development and sale or service offering and acquisition business, healthcare encompasses both these concepts. If one is in the business of healthcare, then one has to ensure that its market is being adequately served.

Many persons may open their mouths in shock to hear me referring to healthcare as a business, because traditionally, we have looked at it as some kind of philanthropic venture.

Electronic prescribing is much more than it appears. While the basic definition speaks to the technology framework that allows doctors and other prescribers to electronically write and transmit prescriptions to patients and pharmacies, the system as a whole can achieve much more. One general benefit of e-prescription is that it assists with eliminating prescription errors in several ways, but importantly, it can be used as part of a system of medication management.

The matter of male fertility is generally taboo in the Jamaican context because we men take our sexual prowess quite seriously.

Yet we have considerably more 'jackets' than many other nations. But this is by no means just a Jamaican issue. According to scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, sperm counts among men in the West have more than halved in the past 40 years and are currently falling by an average of 1.4 per cent a year.

Integrating telemedicine into the healthcare system is not as hard as you would imagine, especially given that the systems and other tools are readily available to do so.

But if we should begin using telemedicine as a major component of the healthcare system, inside and outside the public sector, how many Jamaicans would be able to easily access and benefit? This is a very important issue that we are technically able to resolve if the right environment is created.

Many born into a generation of rapidly changing technology are able to seamlessly adapt to the almost per-second changes.

But there are many among us who do not quite have it so easily. Technophobia - the fear of technology - is real and is oftentimes seen in people afraid of using new technology.

With the pace of change, technology can, indeed, be very daunting. However, with the increased use of technology across sectors and many companies going digital, it is clear that technology is here to stay.