@nhsrcofficial and the Pakistan Digital Authority (PDA) met to review progress and agree the way forward on the Universal Medical Record (UMR), Health Complaint Management System and HMIS-SAP. The meeting was chaired by Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal and he was briefed by Saflain Haider, Executive Director, Digital Innovation Lab (Health Sector), PDA.
Implementation of Universal Medical Records means a person's health history exists as one record that travels with them, rather than as separate fragments held by every medical facility they have ever visited. HMIS-SAP addresses the other half of the same problem. A health management information system records what the health system itself is doing, from facilities and staffing to supplies and service delivery.
Interoperability is the thread running through all of it. Each of these systems is useful on its own and considerably more useful when it can exchange verified information with the others under proper governance.
A health system is a network of institutions that each hold part of a person's story. Connecting them is the crucial part, and it is the difference between a record that exists and a record that helps.