Delegates participate in the 3rd International Health Informatics Conference that wrapped up on Thursday in HCM City. VNS Photo

HCM CITY — Building smart healthcare in the context of digital transformation was the theme of the 3rd International Health Informatics Conference (HEALTHINFO III) that wrapped up on Thursday in HCM City.

The two-day conference brought together domestic and foreign experts from Taiwan (China), Singapore, France and the UK in the fields of health, science and technology, management, policy, and education to discuss timely issues for the development of the health system in the era of digital transformation.

Assoc. Prof. Lương Ngọc Khuê, general director of the Administration of Medical Service under the Ministry of Health, said the application of IT in hospitals and medical facilities remains limited.

He attributed the slow process of IT application in healthcare to limited financial resources.

Departments of health and hospitals in some cities and provinces have not paid much attention to fostering the application of IT and building e-healthcare, he said.

The Ministry of Health is promoting digital healthcare platforms in the National Digital Transformation Programme to 2025, he added.

Prof. Peter Chang, honorary president of the Asian Health Competency Association, gave a presentation on the topic “Smart health services and the development of health literacy for all.”

He highlighted basic and important factors that can be used to rank health systems among countries and territories such as staff, facilities, cost of medical services, availability, and the government’s willingness to cooperate with the health sector.

He also raised the issue that no matter how much investment is made, if operators and service users do not have the ability to properly and reasonably use those resources, it will be a problem.

It is necessary for governments, health systems and people to understand, pay attention to and implement healthcare capacity by helping to improve the quality of health services with available resources and systems, he added.

Assoc. Prof. Dương Anh Đức, deputy chairman of the city People’s Committee, said that amid the rapid rise of science and technology, the health sector needs to catch up with changes to improve the quality of medical services and make healthcare delivery more accessible.

Solutions on building smart healthcare discussed at the conference will contribute to Việt Nam’s healthcare industry orienting smart development in the era of digital transformation, he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed inadequacies in the organisation and operation of the global health system, making the world more unstable while also promoting outstanding scientific and digital technology developments and artificial intelligence, experts said at the conference.

The health system needs to transform, adapt, and develop to be able to provide quality, effective, efficient, and equitable health services.

The conference was jointly organised by the Việt Nam Health Economics Association, HCM City University of Technology, School of Medicine – Việt Nam National University HCM City and Phạm Ngọc Thạch University of Medicine. —VNS