National eHealth development strategy required for implementing 'state in smartphone' – expert
KYIV. Sept 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – A clear plan of implementing and developing eHealth for the next 10 years is required to have "the state in a smartphone" available for each Ukrainian, Board Chairman of NGO Platform for Health Tymofiy Badikov has said.
According to the expert, the strategy should appear before the end of the year and include the results of the audit of the healthcare system initiated by the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada.
"In order for investments to go into eHealth, we need a clear long-term plan – a national strategy for the development of the eHealth system. It is very important that this plan appears in Ukraine this year," he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
According to Badikov, it is also necessary to take into account the audit that has already begun and which is designed for the next three months, and its results and the experience of the regions that have already implemented e-health should be included in the strategy. "It is important to understand where the regions should take investments so that a normal Internet appears. We understand that now not everyone in rural areas has the Internet, but it is required for "medicine in a smartphone" and a "state in a smartphone" to work for everyone. Therefore, this task is also worth it," the expert said.
Badikov also said that the Health Ministry was preparing a concept for the development of eHealth, but there is no final version of the document.
"In the summer, the Health Ministry presented a version of the concept. This is the basic document that precedes the appearance of the strategy. After public discussion and after all organizations submitted proposals, something is missing there. We do not have a final document. When we asked when the strategy appears, the ministry reported that work is ongoing," he said.
In addition, Badikov noted the importance of the existence of this strategy for investors.
"Investing in health is the most reasonable investment that always brings in the return. However, no investor will invest in the country, especially an international expert, if there is no transparency of information, there is no statistical information that is available not only to individuals who bought this information, but to all international investors. And this transparency is impossible without a really working electronic health system," the board chairman of NGO Platform for Health said.
According to Badikov, eHealth is also needed to attract investment in the development of the country's healthcare system. "In order for investments to come in and insurance companies start to be created, so that they start investing in it, so that banks lend equipment on good conditions, invest in development, provide truly favorable conditions, and so that the healthcare system develops throughout the country eHealth is required," he said.
Badikov said that "based on the experience of Poltava region, given the national strategy, over the next two or three years we will really do everything so that every citizen in the country feels the benefits of digital healthcare."