eHealth Association of Pakistan
Recommendations from the First International eHealth Conference
Aga Khan University Karachi - January 23-24, 2010
Summary:
The eHealth Association of Pakistan organized its First International eHealth Conference at the Aga Khan University, Karachi on January 23-24, 2010. The conference was telecasted live at the National University of Science and Technology, Islamabad. The conference attracted stakeholders from the Ministries of Health and Information Technology, National and International development organizations, Health care institutions, Academic institutions in Health, engineering and Telecommunication, and students from a variety of disciplines. The theme of the conference was “Better Health for All through eHealth”. Several keynote addresses, Scientific sessions, workshops and panel discussions were arranged to provide opportunity to the experts, researchers, and participants to share their views.
Recommendations were made in the areas of Innovations, Applications, Evidence, Capacity-building, and Strategy and Policy for eHealth advancement. Following are some of the key recommendations:
- There is a need for ‘eHealth’ approach for Pakistan, which includes applications of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for provision of care (Telemedicine/Telehealth), development of Health Human resource (eLearning), and Information Management (Health Informatics).
- Partnership between Health, ICT, Academics, and Industry is essential for the progress of eHealth in Pakistan.
- eHealth initiatives require Public-Private-Donor collaboration to build readiness and capacity, generate evidence, and gain policy support for successful implementation.
- eHealth initiatives should demonstrate clear Outcomes and impact on the health of the population.
- eHealth strategy should be developed for Pakistan, which involved stakeholders and experts in the country.
- Role of eHealth Association of Pakistan and eHealth Council/Committee should be clarified so that these bodies can complement each other for eHealth advancement.
- Purpose of all these efforts should be to ensure benefits to the health of Population.
Background:
Key objectives of the first International eHealth Conference were:
- To introduce & advocate eHealth as a viable & relevant option for improving public and private healthcare in Pakistan
- To acquaint stakeholders in Pakistan about the national and global efforts being made for eHealth advancement
- Develop and Position eHealth Association of Pakistan (eHAP) as the flag-bearer for eHealth advancement in Pakistan.
Activities:
During the eHealth conference, following activities were carried out to provide opportunity to the experts, researchers and other stakeholders to share their views:
- Keynote addresses: Following four keynote addresses took place during the conference:
- Global efforts in eHealth – Prof. Yunkap Kwankum
- What can we achieve through eHealth – Dr. Richard Scott
- Building Capacity for eHealth – Dr. Maurice Mars
- eHealth for Global Access to Care – Dr. Ron Merrell
- Scientific Sessions: Following five scientific sessions provided opportunity to more than 50 researchers from Pakistan and abroad to present their papers:
- eHealth in Asian Context
- Applications of eHealth
- Innovations in eHealth Applications & Technology
- Planning, Management and Evaluation of eHealth
- Policy, Standards and Ethics in eHealth
- Workshops: Three workshops we conducted to increase capacity of participants in different applications of eHealth:
- How to Plan & Build a Telehealth Program
- Better HMIS & PACS for Pakistani Hospitals
- Health Information Systems and GIS for Primary care and Surveillance
- Panel Discussion: Finally, a panel discussion was also held on the topic of ‘Roadmap of eHealth in Pakistan’. The panelists included Dr. Rasheed Jooma (Director General Health, Pakistan), Mr. John Tomaro (Director Health- Aga Khan Foundation), Dr. Asif Zafar (President- eHealth Association of Pakistan), Dr. Zakiuddin Ahmed (National Coordinator for eHealth), and Dr. Qasim Shaikh (CEO- National ICT R & D fund).
Recommendations:
Recommendations were made in the following five areas:
- Innovations
- Applications
- Evidence
- Capacity-building
- Strategy and Policy
- Innovations: Following recommendations were made to support new Innovations in the area of eHealth:
- Government and donors should extend support for Technology Development for Care and learning
- Further explore the role of Mobile and handheld devices in eHealth
- New diagnostic equipment and Imaging techniques should be supported
- HMIS and Electronic Health Record Software must be developed
- Need for and use of Homecare technologies will increase with time.
- Innovations in eLearning technology can help in responding to the shortage and quality of health human resource
- Linkages with Health care organizations, Industry and Clients is essential for Innovations.
- Advocacy and use Free and Open Source technology should be encourages.
- Applications: Following recommendations were made to facilitate eHealth implementation in Pakistan:
- There is a need to move from Silos to Systems
- Important to consider Telehealth, Health Informatics and eLearning as part of eHealth.
- Scale of services should include all levels of care.
- Involvement of Stakeholders is essential.
- Clear Outcomes and impact of eHealth initiatives on Health should be highlightes.
- Outcomes of eHealth initiatives should be aligned with National and International priorities and targets
- Evidence: Following recommendations were made to ensure that eHealth initiatives produce the evidence to direct further research, applications and policy:
- Evidence is always a strong proponent for Policy change
- Robust methodology should be used to demonstrate achievements of eHealth initiatives.
- Clear and relevant outcomes in short and long term should be defined under the following themes:
- Human computer interaction
- Access, Quality and Cost
- Impact – DALYs, morbidity and mortality
- Forums should be identified and developed to increase Communication and Dissemination of findings from eHealth initiatives.
- Capacity-building: Following recommendations were made to enhance eHealth related capacity in Pakistan:
- Capacity-building is an Important part of Readiness building
- Computing and eHealth made part of regular curriculum at Undergrad and Postgrad levels
- Introduce training programs for current healthcare providers
- Development of standard short and long term programs for capacity building.
- Providing healthcare providers exposure and access to technology.
- Strategy and Policy: Following recommendations were made to support eHealth efforts through changes in Policy and Development of eHealth Strategy:
- Improve understanding and need of eHealth strategy and policy issues.
- Think broadly in terms of staff time, population characteristics, ethical and cultural context.
- Involve stakeholders at all levels in the development of eHealth strategy for Pakistan.
- Role of eHealth Association and eHealth Council/Committee should be clarifies and made complimentary.
- Evolving nature of eHealth entails flexibility of and strategy designed for eHealth.
- CHANGE MANAGEMENT should be an essential part of any strategy for eHealth
Conclusion:
The conference ended on high note achieving all its objectives. eHealth Association of Pakistan will continue its efforts to work closely with the government and other stakeholders to increase advocacy, build capacity, identify and mobilize resources, generate evidence, and design policy and strategy. Specific plans in each of these areas will be developed and shared soon with all the members and others interested in employing eHealth for improving Health services and Health status of the people of Pakistan.
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