(VOVworld) – This September a project to establish digital personal health records will be deployed nationwide and the issuance of medical cards will be completed by 2019. The system allows doctors at any hospital to access the medical history of any patient, making accurate diagnosis much easier. In some cases patients will be able to get medical advice and instructions for treatment without having to visit the hospital.

The project prioritizes children under 5 years, old people over 60, and free laborers.  (Photo: Pham Chinh/nhandan.com.vn)

Hanoi is one of 3 localities selected to pilot a project establishing digital personal medical records. About 4 million Hanoians are expected to have digital medical records this year, which will contain their detailed health care information stored in a national database. These records will allow the lifelong health of every Hanoi resident to be monitored by the municipal health agency. Medical test results can be sent to the patient’s phone.

Nguyen Viet Trieu of Phuc Dong commune was among the first Hanoi residents to have a health file. All his health parameters - weight, height, blood tests, ultrasound scans – were entered into the database under a private code number. Trieu said: “This project is important to all residents, especially the elderly. It’s convenient for us and for health workers as well.”

Residents of Phuc Dong commune in Long Bien district and Co Bi ward in Gia Lam district, Hanoi are the first project beneficiaries  (Photo: VNA)

Trinh Thi Thuy of Co Bi ward in Gia Lam district said she has received medical exams and treatment many times. Each time she has to repeat the same answers to the same questions about her medical history.

“With a digital system, it will be easier for people to go to the hospital for examination and treatment. I can’t afford medical insurance due to my economic difficulty, but now I can get free medical exams at the medical clinic,” said Thuy.

Medical examination and establishment of individual digital medical records has been piloted in 10 communes and wards in Hanoi since early this month. The project prioritizes children under 5 years, old people over 60, and free laborers.

Nguyen Khac Hien, Director of the Hanoi Medical Department, said: “Health workers involved in the pilot project are doctors from city-level or district-level hospitals, who have specialization in those fields most important to the local population. We have prepared sufficient staff and equipment for this project.”

The digital medical records are sorted into children under 5; schoolage children; adults; the elderly; and women of child-bearing age.

“The system seeks, first, to manage and detect the most basic and essential data of each citizen, second, to strengthen the operation of the grassroots medical system, making it more efficient, and third, to keep track of the entire history of medical examination and treatment of each person,” according to Associate Professor Nguyen Ngoc Khue, Director of the Health Ministry’s Health Management Department.

Maintaining an individual medical records system will encourage people to go for periodic checkups at hospitals and clinics and help doctors provide faster and more accurate diagnosis and treatment, which will reduce time and cost for patients.