By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, July 9: The Sarawak government has allocated RM10 million to facilitate digitization at 150 out of 217 clinics throughout Sarawak.
Sarawak Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian said the Ministry of Public Health, Housing and Local Government had met with the Sarawak government to request for the allocation last year.
He explained that the digitalisation of clinics is vital so that health records can be accessed easily while reducing the waste of resources.
“The Sarawak government allocated RM10 million so that 150 out of 271 clinics will be digitized and it covers 73 per cent of the patients in Sarawak who seek treatment in those clinics.
“Nowadays, if you go to one clinic, then another clinic will be able to see your records, including the medicines prescribed, without having to carry around the health records. Sometimes, the patients don’t even know what medicines they are taking.
“The same goes for blood tests because we often repeat blood tests when there are no records. For me, this is not a wise way to use our resources,” said Dr Sim in a press conference at the 8th Asia Pacific Conference on Public Health (APCPH) at a local hotel here today.
Dr Sim, who is also Minister for Public Health, Housing, and Local Government, said the allocation should have been given last year but the federal government’s announcement about the digitization programme caused a delay in the channeling of funds.
He said his ministry received two allocations from the Sarawak and federal governments, and now they would focus on digitizing all 271 clinics in Sarawak.
According to a news report by Sarawak Public Communications Unit (Ukas), also present at the press conference were Opar assemblyman Billy Sujang, Sarawak Health Department director Dr Veronica Lugah, and 8th APCPH vice chairman Dr Tahir Aris. — DayakDaily
