Thu Duc District’s Hospital in HCM City is one of the healthcare facilities applying electronic medical records. (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Written medical records
could be on their way out, as will allow patients to use codes
to access their e-prescriptions on a national online prescription system.
Speaking at a recent workshop, , director of Medical Services
Administration under the health ministry, said the software would be applied
across the country at all public and private healthcare facilities after a recently
launched pilot in Ha Tinh and Hung Yen provinces.
According to Khue, among nearly
50,000 medical facilities nationwide, 95 percent have prescription management
software. However, the data is not synchronised, making it difficult to share
data among facilities.
Up to 70 percent of pharmacies
have medicine management software but still sell medicine without
prescriptions.
At private medical facilities,
prescriptions are written so it is difficult to track who prescribed the
medicine and to ensure the prescribed medicine is sold to patients.
“Since the software is
applied nationwide, written medical records will be replaced with
technology,” he said.
All prescriptions sent from
healthcare facilities nationwide would be saved on the software and shared with
patients and medicine suppliers.
The would be
connected with e-medical records.
Through the system, only
prescribed medicines could be sold to avoid the abuse of antibiotics and
controlled medicine.
“Patients can track the names
of doctors who prescribed the medicine to ask for repeat prescriptions and give
feedback. Data will be saved on the system to identify prescription
violations,” he said.
Patients would be also warned
of outdated and prohibited medicine.
Nguyen Ha, an office worker
in Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem district, said “The national e-prescription is such a
good idea to manage prescription in the era of 4.0. My parents and children
have to go to hospitals for health check-ups regularly. It’s more convenient
without having to bring written prescriptions. I only need to tell the
pharmacist the code to buy medicine.”
The system is being piloted in Ha Tinh and Hung Yen and has been assessed as operating smoothly so far. The
pilot is set to end in a year.
All prescriptions have been
sent to the software and shared with the health ministry, local health
departments and healthcare facilities. Pharmacies have received the
prescriptions and sold medicine following the prescriptions.
With only one code for each
prescription, patients can buy medicine anywhere in Vietnam.
In 2018, the health ministry
launched a software to connect medicine supplying facilities. This year the
ministry has made a move with online prescriptions in order to push towards
electronic healthcare./.
Source: VietnamPlus
