Ho Chi Minh City has invested extensively in smart healthcare development, with a focus on healthcare big data platform and the use of information technology in hospital management and expertise management, said a municipal health official.

Participants discuss smart healthcare at a workshop held in HCM City (Source: VNA) 

HCM City-based hospitals are required to create electronic medical records of international standards for local residents, said Tang Chi Thuong, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Health.

Each citizen would have a single national patient identifier, he said while speaking at a workshop on smart healthcare in HCM City on December 14.

Thu Duc District Hospital was the first medical centre in the city getting approval from the Ministry of Health to create electronic medical records, he said, adding that many hospitals were set to follow suit.

To develop smart healthcare, the city would first build a smart emergency medical response centre and a database on disease surveillance, he said.

Since 2016 the department has been calling for the use of IT in hospital administration.

A lot of specialised software has been developed for managing medical workers, patient health records, drugs and pharmaceuticals, and health warehouses.

Many hospitals have adopted artificial intelligence to enhance their treatment quality, including robot-assisted surgery by Binh Dan Hospital and 115 People's hospital.

Le Thanh Liem, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said the extensive use of IT in the health sector had shown positive results and contributed to the development of a smart city in future. 

In 2017, the city finalised the project to become a smart city in 2017-2020.

It involves the development of an information technology platform for a smart city and technology solutions in many areas such as traffic, environment, public security, and healthcare.

Experts said in a smart hospital the software is fully inter-connected to actively support technical and professional activities and improve medical examination and treatment and hospital management.

The workshop attracted 300 hospital managers, doctors and international health experts.