Trial run of the Unified Electronic Health File System inaugurated

Ramadan Abu Janah, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Tripoli-based Caretaker government headed by Abd Alhamid Aldabaiba, who is also acting Minister of Health, attended the trial operation ceremony for the project to implement the Unified Electronic Health File System, at the headquarters of the Ghout al-Shaal Clinical Centre, in Tripoli yesterday.

The project to implement the unified electronic health file system is one of the projects under implementation by the Ministry of Health for more than five years. The infrastructure for the project has been completed to be implemented in the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi during the first phase, within the Ghout al-Shaal clinic in Tripoli and the al-Kish clinic in Benghazi, according to the latest international standards.

The electronic health system includes the electronic health file and the electronic health card of individuals accessible by doctors treating patients.

At the trial inauguration, the system’s technical committee presented a detailed visual presentation of the project, the stages of its implementation, and the extent of its use in improving primary health care services, as well as the mechanism used for the workflow, and the reception of information from citizens, where information was entered directly from patients who frequent the clinic.

Commenting on the system, Minister Abu Janah pointed out the need to take into account some of the technical notes that must be provided in the system, to ensure the security and integrity of citizens’ data. He said the privacy of data must be preserved and not be damaged or lost.

No family doctor / General Practitioner (GP) system in Libya
It will be noted that Libya does not have a family doctor / General Practitioner (GP) system where data for individual patients is kept, collated and shared with other specialists when needed. Patients refer themselves to specialists. GPs / specialists have to rely on information related to them orally by patients. They are unable to refer to patients’ records for past conditions or treatments.