SPEECH BY YB DATO’ SRI LIOW TIONG LAI MINISTER OF HEALTH

AT THE 2ND TELEPRIMARY CARE (TPC) USERS CONFERENCE THE SUMMIT HOTEL, SUBANG JAYA, 6 JULY 2009

Y.Bhg Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr Haji Mohd Ismail bin Merican, Director General of Health Malaysia.

Dr. Hjh. Safurah binti Jaafar, Director of the Family Health Development Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

A very good morning to all of you.

1. I am pleased to be here with all of you today at the 2nd Teleprimary Care Users Conference. This conference is an opportunity to enhance the cooperation among the TPC users and IT communities.

2. Developments in information and communication technologies (ICTs) during the last quarter of the 20th century have facilitated an information age where economic and social activities have been expanded and transformed. It has also brought forth a computerised and networked world that will not only ensure rapid growth of employment, productivity and output, but will also improve access to facilities and enhance the quality of life.

3. The substantial amount of research and development that has gone into ICT has resulted in more powerful systems as well as dramatic reduction in costs. In the last three decades since 1971, for example, the cost of a megabyte of storage has fallen from USD 5,257 in 1970 to 17 cents in 1999. The opportunities that this offers for computing power at low cost to a large target population are tremendous and should not be lost.

1 4. The broad scope and nature of healthcare allow for many areas where IT can be used to revolutionise health care delivery. The computerization of medical records in hospitals and health clinics, the use of the internet for communication and information exchange, the development of magnetic cards for user identifier, electronic scheduling system for appointments, and computerization of diagnosis and treatment, are among a few examples of how information technology have surpassed the expectations of clients in health care service.

5. Asian countries like Hong Kong, China and Singapore are already optimizing the potentials of IT in the health care industry. The Hong Kong Hospital Authority has 41 hospitals operating electronic applications in their daily work since 1994. Singapore likewise is looking into empowering outpatients to be monitored remotely and providing personalised patient education material via the web.

6. In Malaysia, the Ministry of Health, being the leading provider of health care in the country, is in the best position to spear head the delivery of health care services to our people using information technology. A bold move by the Ministry of Health was the decision to develop an application known as Teleprimary Care (TPC). It was one of the most difficult projects embarked upon. But within 2 years of development, it was rolled out in 2005 to 46 health clinics, 2 hospitals and 7 district health offices in Johor and Sarawak, after some trials and tribulations.

7. Now, 4 years later, TPC is operating in 73 health clinics, 4 hospitals and 10 district health offices across 5 states of Johor, Sarawak, , Selangor and FT Kuala Lumpur.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

8. TPC has surpassed the expectations of those who developed it. Through TPC, the stakeholders are now seeing the early benefits of using the application. For the clients or patients, TPC now means: . Quick and easy registration using MyKad; . Reduced need for physical referral of patients to the specialists in the hospitals because of the convenience of teleconsultation;

2 . Reduced cost of travel; . Improved patient safety, with very low risk of prescription errors; . Remote monitoring of the progress of treatment by the specialists who can effortlessly advice the local doctors on any change in treatment; . No more worry of medical records being misplaced, lost or not updated; . Requests for medical reports can be entertained almost instantaneously; and . Patients can now seek treatment in any TPC clinic without the need to re- register or to repeat his/her illness history all over again.

9. For the providers/users, TPC means: . Almost all the traditional, manual paper-based work process is now replaced by the user-friendly electronic system; . The Care Plan module has greatly revolutionized the task of clerking patients; . Referring patients from one clinic to the next can now be done with ease; . The confidence of the providers in the remote clinics is boosted as they can now “share” the management of the patients with the specialists who are miles away, at anytime; . There is opportunity to do data mining for management or research purposes; . There are no more problems in retrieving old records of patients; . Case summaries can be produced at anytime without “pain”; . There is access to the lifelong history of the patients; . There is efficient and effective disease surveillance through the auto- notification and auto-alert functions; . Opportunities for continuous professional development are available at all times; . There is very little risk of making mistakes as the system will prompt the provider when there is any wrong input; and . Important reports can be automatically generated.

10. Over the years, TPC has collected a huge clinical database that has enabled research to be done. The Ministry is collaborating with the Johns Hopkins University

3 in an ambulatory case mix study. This collaboration has entered its third year. The outcome of this collaboration can potentially assist in the equitable and efficient distribution of resources. Other efforts in research include the Geographical Mapping of Children’s nutritional status with University Sains Malaysia and MACRES. This is of potential importance not only to health care providers, but can also assist in the socio-economic development of the disadvantaged sectors of our population.

11. One critical success factor of any IT system is the support of a strong and dedicated IT team. There must be minimal down-time to enable continuous usage by the users. This must be further supported by technology upgrading in line with IT advancements. Therefore, TPC, along with all the other IT initiatives in the Ministry, must be given this much needed support and must undergo the necessary transformations to remain current and relevant.

Ladies and Gentleman,

12. It is still a long journey for TPC. Like any other ICT effort, the initial cost of development of the software was large and needed to be championed by visionaries. However, the return now will be great as the Ministry only needs to invest in hardware and communication. Thus the government is committed to its continuity. The speed of its expansion, however, will very much depend on the financial capacity of the government. This conference I hope will be an avenue for the TPC users to validate the decision made on TPC.

13. I also hope that this second TPC Users Conference will bring the Health Care and IT Industries closer together and provide a long term partnership that will benefit both parties in the future. As for the users on the ground, the survival of our home grown IT system lies in its usage at every level. We should be proud to have such an application that was painstakingly developed by ourselves, and is as good as other applications showcased by other commercial entities. Sharing of information among the users and the IT personnel during this conference will hopefully lead to more innovations and improvement in our work processes.

4 14. With these words, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to declare open the 2nd Teleprimary Care Users Conference 2009.

Thank You.

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