eHealth Strategy South Africa 2012 - Department of Health

Foreword by the Minister
Effective monitoring of healthcare service delivery and overall
performance of the health systems requires functional health
information systems capable of producing real time information
for decision making. Globally, Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) has emerged as a critical enabling mechanism to
achieve this. This eHealth Strategy for the public health sector in
South Africa ushers in a new era of optimism about the capabilities
of our health information systems.
Historically, health information systems in South Africa have been
characterised by fragmentation and lack of coordination, prevalence
of manual systems and lack of automation, and where automation
existed, there was a lack of interoperability between different
systems. Considerable resources were also invested in these
systems that, in the final analysis, did not generate the expected
returns on investment.
In August 2009, the National Health Council (NHC), chaired
by myself and comprising of the 9 Provincial MECs for Health,
resolved that the acquisition of software solutions which were
not interoperable should be halted until the eHealth Strategy for
South Africa is finalised. The strategy should provide us with a clear
roadmap that guides us from the current status to an integrated
and well functioning national patient-based information system,
based on agreed upon scientific standards for interoperability, which
improves the efficiency of clinical care, produces the indicators
required by management, and facilitates patient mobility. The
architecture of this system should also enable an interface with
other transversal systems used in health sector. Such a system is
also a critical enabling factor for the implementation of National
Health Insurance (NHI).
The eHealth Strategy for the public health sector provides
the roadmap for achieving a well functioning national health
information system with the patient located at the centre.
The Ministry of Health and the NHC will closely monitor the
implementation of this strategy, to ensure that previous errors do
not revisit us and that the strategy indeed supports patient care and
healthcare management.
________________________________
DR. A. MOTSOALEDI, MP
MINISTER OF HEALTH
DATE: 9 July 2012
National eHealth Strategy, South Africa 2012/13-2016/17
Minister of Health
Dr Aaron Motsoaledi
Deputy Minister of Health
Dr Gwen Ramokgopa
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