The high cost is a challenge for the Health Ministry (MOH) to implement the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system in hospitals nationwide, the Parliament was told yesterday.

Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said the implementation of the system requires a high budget, which might reach a billion ringgit as it would require upgrading of the hospital’s infrastructure, as well as the suitability of the building also has to be taken into account.

“The existing equipment is also old, so we need to upgrade them, either by repairing or replacing them with new ones. This also contributes to the high budget requirement, in addition to the cost of the system itself.

“For the complete implementation of this system, we need cooperation from the Ministry of Finance,” she said during the Minister’s Question Time.

She was responding to a supplementary question from Tan Hong Pin (PH-Bakri) who wanted to know when the EMR system can be fully integrated and the constraints faced by the ministry in implementing it.

Meanwhile, Dr Zaliha said a total of 103 Health Clinics have been equipped with the Teleprimary Care - Oral Health Clinical Information System (TPCOHCIS) system and another 42 Health Clinics in Negeri Sembilan to be equipped with the system through the National EMR project.

“There are 1,027 Health Clinics that use the online appointment system through the MySejahtera application, while 370 Health Clinics offer virtual clinic services to their customers.

“The next plan is to expand all related systems more comprehensively to achieve the objective of an integrated health information system,” she said in response to Tan’s original question about the latest status in the implementation of EMR system in hospitals and clinics nationwide.