The pilot phase of introducing into some Gauteng health facilities smart cards detailing patients' personal information went off without a glitch and the system is ready to be expanded to a larger test area.
Gauteng health MEC Brian Hlongwa yesterday provided an update on the system at a provincial quarterly meeting in Johannesburg.
The smart cards are part of the Gauteng Department of Health's electronic Health Records System (eHRS), which is currently being tested.
"The preparations for the implementation of eHRS were completed in the Sedibeng District earlier this year," Hlongwa said, "and the proof-of-concept phase that is taking place in Michael Maponya clinic in Soweto has proven successful so far."
Hlongwa said the manual system of taking down patient information at hospitals and pharmacies was old and led to a number of backlogs in health service delivery. The point of incorporating the new smart cards, he said, would be to streamline the process, allowing a patient to move from doctor to doctor and to pharmacy without the hassle of a "mountain of paperwork".
The MEC explained that the smart cards would be created by first having the patient's written information scanned into a database and from that database, the information would then be placed onto smart cards.
He did not disclose the number of smart cards issued so far, but was confident the pilot programme could be spread to the other testing sites that include Johan Deo Clinic, Dr Helga Kuhn, Leai Mbatha CHC and Sebokeng Regional Hospital.
Hlongwa said the biggest challenge would be to get healthy people who do not visit hospitals much to make their way there to get their details scanned for the smart cards. The health MEC added that up to R6.7 million would be used in the next three years to roll out the smart cards.
He added that other improvements in terms of the Gauteng health department's IT infrastructure strategy would include the introduction of the Health Information System and local area network which would "ultimately transform healthcare service delivery in Gauteng".
"Since Gauteng is a 'smart province', we as the health department feel it is imperative that we also make efforts to become smart ourselves," noted Hlongwa. "And this is why we are investing in IT infrastructure in more than 118 hospitals and clinics."
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