Revamp the healthcare system through technological innovation

 

Malaysia’s healthcare system faces deep-rooted issues, including inefficiency, inadequate infrastructure, and capacity constraints. A recent survey by health news portal Code Blue highlighted the dire state of affairs, with 95% of healthcare workers citing overwork, understaffing, unfair compensation, and equipment shortages as reasons for dissatisfaction.

The health sector’s performance in 2023 showed no improvement, according to Code Blue; instead, it worsened due to unfavourable policies like liquid nicotine delisting and forced resignations among contract doctors and pharmacists.

In a positive move, the health ministry was allocated RM41.22 billion in the 2024 budget, a 13.5% increase from the previous year.

The appointment of Dzulkefly Ahmad as the new health minister is promising. However, urgent intervention remains imperative to ensure healthcare sustainability and efficacy.

At the core of this intervention lies the necessity to modernise the systemic flow of the healthcare system. The archaic processes prevalent in Malaysian hospitals — manual patient registration, paper-based records, and fragmented appointment systems — are appalling.

In an era where technological advancements like artificial intelligence has aided medical diagnoses, Malaysia lags behind, clinging to outdated, inefficient, error-prone practices.

From my most recent experience, multiple feedback and discussions with the health workers, Malaysia’s hospitals require patients to register manually at the counter.

Healthcare professionals dig through thousands of paper records as patients need to manually place their health appointment card in the allocated box outside of the clinic, for the nurse to pick it up.

After attending to the patient, the doctor manually writes the diagnosis on the health card and writes the patient the prescription slip, which the patient needs to physically place on another box at the pharmacy area to pick up their medicines.

Cross-department patients have multiple appointment cards and records which work in silos. It is even more complicated if patients do not seek treatment at the same clinic each time, creating multiple records in silos of each other.

These experiences are all too common for those of us who have visited public clinics or hospitals. It is a wonder that, with technological advancement in the past decades, we could not move away from the pen and paper systems that are less efficient, harder to track, and prone to human error.

Several apps have attempted to address such healthcare challenges. For instance, the MySejahtera app, initially designed for Covid-19 management, now offers online appointments and consultations. Another app by the health ministry, MyUBAT, facilitates easier access to pharmacy services like ordering prescriptions and scheduling appointments.

While these apps are some of the ways to address a niche of healthcare issues, they are not widely used and are not integrated into the wider functioning of the system.

Digitalisation of the entire ecosystem is a way forward towards improving interoperability and operational efficiency. An integrated database and app that is functional and widely accessible is pertinent to bridge this gap. Building a digital ecosystem is the most low-hanging fruit to improve the efficiency of our entire healthcare chain.

Take the healthcare system of our neighbour Singapore for example.

Each patient is registered in the database, with the national identity as the unique identifier. The patient’s records, from medical appointments to diagnoses and drugs prescribed, are accessible to all health personnel across departments, regardless of which clinic or hospital, public or private, the patient has attended.

In Malaysia, the manual recording of a patient’s medical history often means that their medical history and diagnoses are not shared across clinics and departments, undermining patient care and appropriate medical knowledge. Time is also wasted figuring out health issues that were flagged previously.

Besides that, having an integrated patient database and portal grants patients online access to their medical records, test results, and medications, fostering a sense of ownership and control over their health.

Digitalisation allows improved access to healthcare. Telemedicine allows patients with limited mobility to consult with doctors virtually, overcoming geographical and logistical barriers and preventing long waiting times at clinics and hospitals.

Improving efficiency and patient care is important. As an added benefit, the large amount of data available in the digital system also enables better allocation of resources, planned medical intervention, and evaluation of healthcare quality.

For instance, making online appointments a norm helps with crowd control and allows us to assess which departments are in need of more resources.

Our healthcare requires dire intervention, and with the added budget allocation and new health minister, this is the most opportune time to make long-lasting change. Digitalisation could be one important way to bring us closer to an improved and more sustainable healthcare system. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.