In an exclusive interview with FutureGov, Chi Thanh Luong, Deputy Director General, Department of Health IT, Ministry of Health (MOH), Vietnam reveals his team’s biggest project worth VND100 billion (US$4.7 million).

The Electronic Health Medical (EMR) initiative targets to digitise patients’ health data at the 40 hospitals under the ministry. These hospitals are the biggest among the 1000 hospitals across the country.

“Our leaders have pumped VND 20 billion (approx US$1 million) into the project this year to kick off EMR and has since benefitted six hospitals,” says Thanh.

The key challenges facing the team are the lack of policy and IT engineers who are specialised in health technology. He noted: “the government needs to issue the necessary policy governing roles, privacy, security of sensitive patient information and more.”

Being a young team that was formed only a year ago, the Department of Health IT is under pressure to show success for this EMR initiative. Than believes the infrastructure, technology-savvy population, and cheap internet costs provide strong support to the initiative.