Digital Health Institute being established to transform local healthcare system

Oil companies, ExxonMobil Guyana, HESS Guyana Exploration Limited and CNOOC, today launched the National Health Information Systems and Technology (HIST) Workforce Development Programme under the Greater Guyana Initiative.

Under the programme, the Guyana Digital Health Training Institute will be established.

The digital training programme will be unveiled in partnership with the ICAHN School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital of the US, and the Ministry of Health.

Chair of the Department of Health System Design and Global Health at the ICAHN School of Medicine, Dr Rachel Vreeman said the programme is aligned with the Guyana Government’s vision of utilizing information systems and technology to improve access to healthcare and the quality of available health services.

She said Mount Sinai is proud to support the Ministry of Health’s vision.

“This new Digital Health Training Institute is going to be critical for training up the workforce, the human resources that Guyana needs to support these new digital health initiatives, this includes, its upcoming electronic health record system that we anticipate will be rolling out across the country,” Dr. Vreeman explained.

Dr. Vreeman said the institute will not only cater for IT specialists, but it will also cater for public health leaders, including doctors and nurses.

Those persons, Dr Vreeman said, would be provided with tuition free training in digital health, with the opportunity to specialize in different areas.

Lead of the Greater Guyana Initiative, Alecia Bess Anderson, explained that the National Health Information Systems and Technology Workforce Development Programme will play a key role in improving patient care while building institutional and human capacity for the local health care system.

“Under this transformational programme, over 250 Health Information System and Technology workers will be trained to implement, management and maintain the National Electronic Health Record System, which will serve as a foundation for establishing a centre for excellence, producing train HIST professionals, that would serve Guyana and beyond,” the Greater Guyana Initiative Lead explained.

Bess-Anderson said HIST is just one of several initiatives that the Greater Guyana Initiative is supporting as part of its commitment to advance the country’s growth in the areas of health and education.

Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony welcomed the introduction of the programme as an important part of the country’s journey to improving its Health Information Systems.

He said it will play a critical role in surveillance and the tracking diseases and outbreaks.

“We want to have an electronic system that allows us to understand what are the diseases we have, and if we are seeing spikes in a particular area, we will then know there is an outbreak here or something and we can send in a rapid response team,” Minister Anthony said.

The Health Minister stated that later this year the Health Ministry intends to build out the surveillance system that will be integrated into the Health Information System.

While lauding the programme, Dr. Anthony stressed that it is important for the country to digitize its healthcare system, noting that it can no longer remain paper-based.