THE Health Ministry is embarking upon a pilot project in the Seremban Hospital to electronically file medical records.

Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said patients’ record from birth to death will be accessible to all branches in the system once it is implemented nationwide.

“It is essential. (There’s) no denying that EMR or record digitalisation is a necessity at the present time,” she was quoted as saying in The Vibes today.

“But I think it needs to be strengthened, expanded and upgraded. Now we are coming up with the new one – EMR or electronic medical records – and this is very important,” said the Sekijang MP.

“We have to have a system that (is sustainable) as well as resilient. 

“This is very important, and I hope medical records from the womb to the tomb of a person will be in place soon.” 

She added that digitalisation will support the need to continuously improve the healthcare delivery system.

“It will help alleviate some of the problems that we are having in our services at hospitals, for example, in the emergency department,” she said.

This will help the medical workers to perform triage quickly, she said.

She said the system will let the doctors know whether beds are available to reduce congestion in the emergency department,” said the first-time minister.

Recent months have seen complaints of overcrowding at government hospitals, resulting in delayed treatment and admission.

The ministry has said that a cause for the overcrowding is people’s tendency to go to the emergency ward even for small ailments. Once they are there, the doctor in attendance will have to perform a thorough check-up on the patient. – February 24, 2023.