Ministry of Health launches apps, online services as it participates in mega event
The Ministry of Health (MOH) is taking part in Oman’s official technology show COMEX 2023, which kicked off on Monday under the patronage of H H Sayyid Marwan bin Turki al Said, Governor of Dhofar.
The event - which is being held at the Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre (OCEC) - will continue until Thursday.
As digital transformation is part of the national trend, the Ministry of Health sought to implement digital strategies and techniques to promote procedures and performance. Therefore, the ministry launched several electronic systems and applications, including:
The personal health record, known as Al-shifa app, is for every citizen and resident, providing the patient’s health data from all health institutions using the civil number.
It is a special platform for individuals saving and exchanging medical information between patients and doctors and offers consultations with health service providers, said a press release.
The app provides many services such as booking appointments, the virtual clinic, access to health records and reports, medical history, dependents (view health records of children under 18 years old), prescriptions, lab investigations, immunization, procedure reports, blood donation details, vital signs, documents, organ donation, in addition to scheduled appointments and referrals among health institutions.
The appointment booking services has been activated in five health centres - Azaibah Health Centre, Bousher Health Centre, Firq Health Centre, Musanna Health Centre and Naseem Health Centre.
The virtual clinic service (telemedicine) is activated in the Royal Hospital and Khoula Hospital.
Al-shifa application can be downloaded from the known stores App Store, Google play, or Huawei App Gallery. The Civil number must be activated by the medical records in the health institution.
Al-shifa Pulse system is one of the smart electronic systems developed by the Directorate General of Information Technology. It draws most of its data from the Al-shifa system. It aims to review an interactive statistical dashboard on the real-time health services indicators for the decision-makers at the national level. Al-shifa Pulse is a data source for study, research, and analyzing and improving health services.
Ajyal: A Birth & Death Registration System since 2016. The app links the government and private health institutions to the Royal Oman Police and the Directorate General of Planning & Studies. Ajyal system electronically notifies the Civil Status Centres of any hospital birth or death case.
This system, which the Directorate General of Information Technology developed, has significantly contributed to the electronic census 2020 by the vital data census system on birth and death reports with more than 120 health institutions using the Ajyal system.
The National Donor and Donation Registry (NBDR) system integrates the different blood banks within the Sultanate of Oman to build a central donor and donation registry, blood product inventory, and a transfusion database so that a nation-wide safe blood donation and transfusion environment can be achieved through this integration and sharing of data.
E-health Portal: this project focuses on improving and implementing a new version of the e-health portal to maintain many of its current electronic services and improve content management and access features by using up-to-date technologies and best practices with the other sectors.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Health always seeks to facilitate health services for patients by utilising technology such as peritoneal dialysis.
Peritoneal dialysis is one of the treatments the Ministry of Health currently uses for patients with kidney failure. It is a home-based service in which the patient’s presence at the dialysis centers is not required. Patient and their family are being trained on the dialysis method.
The patient is being followed once a month for medical check-ups and receiving medicines.