Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen.

IT applications to support Covid-19 epidemic prevention have included the NCOVI voluntary medical declaration app, the mandatory Health Declaration medical declaration for people entering Vietnam app, the Bluezone app to detect those who have close contact with Covid-19 patients, and the Covid-19 safety map are some of the outstanding achievements of the health sector in recent time, said Tuyen.

He said that the Ministry of Health deployed IT applications very early, and these apps have been continuously updated. “The current success in Covid-19 prevention and control has a very strong contribution from IT," Tuyen said.

The health official said that under the direction of the Prime Minister the Health Ministry has been coordinating with the Ministry of Information and Communications and telecommunications service providers to study and develop a "Vaccine Passport" project.

A vaccine passport is essentially a certificate that shows one is vaccinated fully against Covid-19. For this issue, the Ministry of Health is working on the time, validity and value of the passport.

Applying artificial intelligence in healthcare

The implementation of telehealth is evaluated as one of the outstanding results in digital transformation in the health sector over the past time.

Initial achievements in applying IT and digital transformation in healthcare have been recorded. The Ministry of Health has formulated and promulgated many documents to contribute to improving the institution and legal environment for implementation of IT in healthcare, serving as a basis for digital transformation in the health sector.

The implementation of telehealth is evaluated as one of the outstanding results in digital transformation in the health sector over the past time.

The public service portal of the Ministry of Health has been implemented since 2019. By late June 2020, 100 per cent of the ministry's administrative procedures were provided online at level 4. The document management and e-mail system has been deployed in all subsidiaries within the Ministry of Health, integrated with all provincial Departments of Health.

Another outstanding achievement in the application of IT by the Ministry of Health is the launching of the Public Health Information Portal. This is the official channel of the Ministry of Health for people and businesses to look up information on the prices for drugs, medical equipment, medical supplies, diagnostic biologicals, medical examination and treatment services.

Deputy Minister Do Xuan Tuyen also said that the application of IT in hospitals has been promoted. So far, 100 percent of hospitals nationwide have deployed hospital management information systems; 10 hospitals and one clinic have used electronic medical records instead of paper documents; 23 hospitals have built the image storage and transmission system (PACS) and PACS Cloud system. Many hospitals have also put into use applications for online medical registration, applied artificial intelligence (AI), robotics in healthcare, clinical decision-making support in hospital information systems, drug interaction warning, Chatbots and others.

“The Ministry of Health has assigned its IT Department to study in order to apply artificial intelligence in medical examination and treatment,” Tuyen said.

During the regular Government meeting for March, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked the health, tourism and diplomacy sectors to early study and issue a mechanism for vaccine passports in order to promote trade and investment. The health sector was told to submit a plan for this matter as soon as possible.

Also at the government's press conference on March 31, Minister, Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung said PM Phuc had instructed Government members to continue working for the twin goals and flexibly use micro policies to timely respond to unfavourable developments in the world situation, towards achieving set growth targets.

Van Anh

“Vaccine passport" mechanism needed to promote trade, investment: PM

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ordered the health, tourism and diplomacy sectors to soon study and issue a "vaccine passport" mechanism in order to promote trade and investment while addressing the Government’s regular meeting on March 31.