Materia Medica Malaysiana

Putrajaya Hospital showcases latest eHealth service

PATIENTS registered with Putrajaya Health Clinic carry no appointment cards if they possess MyKad, the new chip-based national identity card.

The long queues that are a common feature in most government clinics and general hospitals in the country are unheard of in this futuristic healthcare facility in the nation's new administrative centre.

A patient with an appointment for the day merely swipes his MyKad at a terminal, which will then dispense a queue number for the doctor attending to his case.

If he has a mobile phone he would have had an SMS reminder the day before, plus pertinent information – such as having to fast for eight hours prior to his visit – if he were scheduled to undergo any laboratory tests.

Dr Wong Kien Seng is particularly proud that the applications are Buatan Malaysia – developed locally by programmers, all of whom are Malaysian citizens.
This is information technology communications at work, realising the nation's eHealth programme, a flagship application of the Multimedia Super Corridor. The clinic and the 272-bedded Putrajaya Hospital, which provides secondary level care, have become the nation's showcase of its healthcare services of the future.

And patients could expect further enhancements and refinements, promised Dr Wong Kien Seng, chief executive officer of Kompakar eHealth Tech Sdn Bhd (KeHT), who has been involved in the project from day one. KeHT is a subsidiary of the Kompakar Group.

The Clinic Information System (CIS) has run live in Putrajaya Clinic since November 1999, and the Total Hospital Information System (eTHIS) since November 2000, according to Wong, who is particularly proud that the applications are Buatan Malaysia – developed locally by programmers, all of whom are Malaysian citizens.

The two systems are currently Windows-based. But the hospital is keen on migrating to a Java-powered, open source version that Kompakar is near to wrapping up. An open source system will help the hospital cut costs in that no royalty payments are involved.

Although the open source version is aimed primarily at the China market, Kompakar's stand is “flavours” – it provides applications that meet the client's operating platform, whether Windows-based, Unix, or open source.

Wong, with over 10 years of healthcare industry experience, said CIS and eTHIS allowed doctors from the clinic to refer patients to the hospital electronically. Patients need not carry a hard copy of referral with them when visiting the hospital.

The hospital staff are able to preview patients' initial record – the clinical clerking, investigations' test and results – and proactively plan for patients' care prior to their consultation.

More importantly, eTHIS contains a comprehensive medical folders module that enables doctors to access patients' medical records online, even on wireless networks when required.

In the pipeline is a picture archiving and communications system intended to be used for long-term archiving of medical images. This, coupled with other data culled from the hospital's records, will enable a decision support system that will help doctors in diagnosis and treatment.

Besides, KeHT is working on a shrink-wrapped version of its CIS application that will be offered as a stand-alone system for the smaller healthcare providers.

Wong said in addition to Putrajaya Hospital and Clinic, eTHIS had also been customised for the Pantai group hospitals in Bangsar (Kuala Lumpur) and Pandan Indah (Selangor).

KeHT is also looking at working with other hospitals within the Bursa Malaysia-listed Pantai group.

Besides Malaysia, KeHT is currently targeting eTHIS at hospitals in China, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and, eventually, Vietnam. The Kompakar group has overseas subsidiaries in Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia and China.