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The Ministry of Health on Friday accepted a significant donation of medical equipment amounting to four hundred thousand EC ($400,000) dollars from the E-Government Regional Integration Project.

Government is currently working on upgrading the Ministry of Health’s Health Information System.

This effort is part of Dominica’s involvement in the E-Government Regional Integration Project or E-GRIP.

The donation ceremony took place at the Princess Margaret Hospital’s Conference Room where the Health Minister was represented by Helen Royer, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health.

She says, “The move toward this technological platform for enhanced health care will have a significant impact on the quality of health care delivered and improve health outcomes.”

The Ministry of Health’s decision to implement the open Electronic Medical Records System (M.R.S) has several implications. Royer explained further.

“Firstly, the cost of getting the software up and running is less than the purchase of similar systems off-the-shelf since M.R.S is free of charge and the costs incurred are related to customising the system to meet specific needs- something that would need to be done for off-the-shelf systems anyway. Secondly, the ongoing maintenance costs would be lower than, for a subscribed system especially if the system is shared with other sister countries in the region who themselves can contribute manpower to maintain the system through addressing common problems and further refining the software.”

Royer continued, “Thirdly, our experience here in Dominica would likely inform the decision of similar countries and perhaps beyond in the selection and implementation of information systems for health.”

E-GRIP country–based specialist, Marlon Marie spoke to the initiation of the donation.

“The Ministry of Health in discussions with the OECS made a request to procure the relevant computer and networking equipment for the implementation of an Electronic Medical Records System. The sourcing of this equipment demonstrates the serious commitment of the Government of Dominica to improving the health care facilities in preparation for the implementation of a national Electronic Medical Records System.”

Marie also expressed his satisfaction on behalf of his organisation at being involved in the efforts.

“On behalf of the OECS Secretariat, I would like to thank the Government of Dominica in particular the ministry of health for inviting e-grip to partner with them to strengthen health care in Dominica. I look forward to the effective utilization of the equipment and technology.”

Giving an in-depth overview of the project was Dwight Durand, who is Information and Communication Systems Administrator.

“We have put together a plan to install a system which we deem suitable for our requirements here in Dominica. With the help of the OECS Secretariat, through E-GRIP, we are now able to move one step further in the installation of that Medical Records System,” he said.

Durand continued, “One of the more important features of the system is a single patient file which will follow a patient wherever he is to any health care facility he uses. That would mean no more worries about duplicate files. No matter where the patient is-if he changes residences, his file will remain the same.”

Mr Durand listed a number of benefits that E-GRIP will bring to the local health sector including quicker file retrieval; less wait time for patients; improved information security; avoidance of duplicate processes and the easier transmittance of information among departments.

The specialist went further to describe the scope of the donation.

“The equipment includes 34 desktop computers, 14 laptop computers, 21 tablet computers, 3 network switches, 2 network racks, 4 network attached network servers, 4 network application servers, 3 rack-mounted uninterruptible power supplies and 8 wireless network access points. This is the magnitude of this presentation. We are talking about a value of approximately EC $400,000 dollars. This project is going to benefit everybody-not just the Ministry of Health. I think we can all appreciate what this will mean for us as people, patients and clients of this system.”

The donation was officially handed over by Government representative Irma Edwards to Helen Royer on behalf of the Ministry of Health.

The E-Government Regional Integration Project aims to make public services more efficient by uniting the region’s major government systems.

The project also seeks to address some of challenges of size and isolation faced by small island developing states.