The Health Ministry of Malaysia has announced that it will allocate funds to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) to digitalize patients’ medical records.
Currently, HKL as one of the country’s largest and busiest hospitals manages patient records manually and deals with over 16,000 records daily.
The move to digitize these records is expected to help HKL manage patients and their medical records more efficiently.
Speaking to reporters after the launch of “Buku Coffee Table Covid-19” at HKL, on March 17, Health Minister Dr. Zaliha Mustafa, who previously served at HKL as a medical doctor, stated that digitalizing patients’ medical records would be a great help to the hospital, and the Ministry would provide a special allocation for this purpose. However, Dr. Zaliha did not provide any specifics about the allocation.
Earlier, HKL Director Datin Dr. Rohana Johan expressed her desire to see all medical records digitalized for better management of the hospital and patients. She noted that around 16,000 patients’ medical records move in and out of Wisma Kayu—a building near HKL’s maternity hospital, nicknamed “Wisma Kayu” for its wooden infrastructure where all these records are kept, on a daily basis.
Dr. Rohana hoped that at least half of the records would be digitized before her retirement.
