Deputy Premier: Over half of 271 public health clinics in Sarawak to undergo digitalisation

KUCHING (July 9): More than half of 271 public health clinics in Sarawak would undergo a transformative shift towards digitalisation, said Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian.

In this regard, he said the state government had allocated RM10 million for this purpose.

“With this allocation, 150 health clinics would be digitalised, and this should benefit around 73 per cent of patients receiving primary healthcare services from government healthcare facilities throughout Sarawak.

“By going digital, this would enable clinics to link to one another, and be able to access medical records of patients without the need for them to bring along hard copies of their medical records,” he told a press conference after delivering a keynote address at the ‘Eighth Asia Pacific Conference on Public Health’ (APCPH), here today.

Adding on, the state Public Health, Housing and Local Government Minister said the Sarawak government was approached by the Health Department Sarawak last year to discuss transitioning the clinics to digital healthcare facilities.

“However, this was delayed because the federal government had announced in (the National) Budget that they would be implementing a digitalisation programme.

“So, we waited, but the state was only allocated two (clinics for digitalisation).

“As such, we decided not to wait any longer in view of Sarawak having 271 public health clinics.

“We want to help the people,” he said.

Earlier in his speech, Dr Sim said the Sarawak government was working with the Health Ministry in expanding the Cloud-Based Clinic Management System (CCMS) into health facilities throughout Sarawak.

“We believe the impact of CCMS will improve the quality of patient care and safety as the AI (artificial Intelligence) application within the system will enhance the overall work process.

“Moreover, this cloud-based system will also offer robust disaster recovery options, including data replication across multiple servers or data centres.

“This ensures that patient’s data is protected and accessible even in the event of hardware failure, natural disasters or other emergencies,” he elaborated.

On another matter, Dr Sim said his ministry would be working with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in several projects.

“These projects will not only include collaboration with our Health Department, but also with local councils on programmes such as healthy ageing, ageing city, Unicef (United Nations Children’s Fund) and Child-Friendly City, among other areas.”

Also present at the event were Opar assemblyman Billy Sujang, Health Department Sarawak director Dr Veronica Lugah, WHO representative to Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore Dr Rabindra Abeyasinghe, and APCPH organising committee vice-chairman Dr Tahir Aris.