As Barbados digitises its health records and hospital systems, officials say the change must not leave anyone behind.
At a public consultation Thursday night held via Zoom on the digital component of the Health Services Resilience Programme, Leisa Perch, chief executive officer of SAEDI Consulting Barbados Inc., said planners were working to protect access for the country’s most vulnerable groups.
“We still have access for elderly, rural and disabled populations and other groups,” she said. “We need to think across the board in terms of making sure that we don’t have systems that automatically exclude persons.”
She added that governance remained key to that effort. “We need to think about institutional oversight, patient access rights, clear health and cybersecurity roles as well, which are critical to governance and management overall.”
Perch, who presented the environmental and social risk assessment required by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), also flagged climate change as a growing threat to the digital systems.
“If we’re looking at hurricanes and flooding, we need to look at damage to data centres, loss of connectivity, PMR downtime,” she said. “We need to think of the need for increased cooling demand for servers and to make sure that we reduce the risk of overheating.
Storm surge
“If we’re looking at storm surge and coastal flooding, we need to look at possible threats to hospital IT rooms, network hubs and possible hosting sites.”
Even seismic activity, not usually seen as a major risk for Barbados, was flagged as a concern.
Stacie Goring, acting director of the Planning and Research Unit, gave an overview of the country’s current digital health tools, including the electronic medical records system used at polyclinics, and plans for a fully integrated system at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).
“A fragmented health information system with limited interoperability, limited integration between QEH, polyclinics, labs and pharmacies,” was found in a 2022 readiness assessment, Goring said. “There is a need for stronger digital health governance and coordination.”
Dr Arthur Phillips, Deputy Chief Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, placed the digital work within the wider Health Services Resilience Programme.
“Digital health is therefore not an add-on to the programme, but it is one of the key investments. We need to ensure that digital transformation strengthens the health system for everyone, not only for those who are already comfortable with technology,” he said.
The Ministry of Health and Wellness is preparing a report on the consultation, to be published alongside the instruments being developed to support the IDB process. (DDS)
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