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Special Reports
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“The f i r s t con t ac t be tween
Cathay General Hospital (CGH) and
Paraguay took place in 2007 through
the assistance of the TaiwanICDF.
Paraguay was the first country that
we helped through the dispatch
of a Mobile Medical Mission. This
was the beginning of our long-term
relationship,” recalls Li Feng-kun,
Vice President of Administration of
Cathay General Hospital (CGH).
When Paraguay sent a request to
the Embassy of Taiwan in Paraguay
in 2013 for healthcare services,
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
commissioned the TaiwanICDF to
inquire CGH for potential partnership
in this project. Vice President
Li expresses with enthusiasm:
“Given that CGH already had a
relationship with Paraguay and had
just established our own information
system independently, we had ample
expertise and professionals to help
the country establish a hospital
information systems (HIS), and were
more than happy to take on this
project.”
The consultant team of the
TaiwanICDF and CGH visited
Paraguay on many occasions over
a period of two years. Information
collected on the current status of
healthcare systems in Paraguay
and from interviews with the nation’s
Ministry of Public Health and Social
Welfare was referenced to modify
the concept of healthcare for the
rural areas into a project focusing
on setting up HIS infrastructure
to promote better management
functions. There are three indicators
for this project, as listed below:
1. Health Information System (HIS):
Currently, healthcare service in
Paraguay still rely on manual
systems, which often results
in haphazard management of
medical inventories and unstable
quality in healthcare service. The
primary objective of this project
is to provide support for the
establishment of a simple and
practical information system that
supports management of patient
appointment, clinical services
and prescription dispensing, and
facilitate collection of clinical data
and management of medical
inventories.
2. E-learning: Paraguay is a sparsely
populated country and does not
have enough medical professionals
to healthcare institutions in rural
areas. The country also lacks
continuing education or training
opportunities. The e-learning
system is expected to help solve
this issue. Digital learning courses
will be designed to provide training
and generate learning materials
customized to suit Paraguay.
3. Es t ab l i s h i ng a hea l t hca r e
management system: Paraguay
has a public healthcare system
(government subsidized care).
However, public hospitals in
general lack proper management,
which leads to poor performance
and low efficiency. Since medical
resources are limited, support
must be provided to establish a
healthcare management system
and properly guide the medical
services to maximize synergistic
effects.
“Taiwan has extensive experience
in all three areas gained from
implementing the National Health
Insurance and hospital accreditation
programs. Taiwan’s mature and
efficient healthcare management
system and HIS can be very helpful
for the development of healthcare
management systems in developing
coun t r i es , ” emphas i zes Vi ce
President Li.
He also points out that the
TaiwanICDF dispatched an overseas
project manager to Paraguay,
while CGH was responsible for
providing consultation services and
personnel training for IT and medical
management. The project targeted
hospitals and health stations in three
departments and was scheduled
to be a four-year endeavor. Tasks
in 2015 include project preparation
and early-phase personnel training.
Primary tasks will be carried out in
2016 to help Paraguay establish
their systems, which are expected
to be successively launched into
service in the next three years. “We
sincerely hope that we can use the
experiences in the development of
HIS from Taiwan and CGH to develop
this project and help Paraguay
establish their own independent HIS,
improve overall healthcare quality,
and provide the people with better
healthcare services.”
Li Feng-kun, Vice President, Administration, Cathay
General Hospital
Helping to establish an independent
health information system (HIS) to
improve the quality of overall healthcare
2
Interview