Malaysian Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said that it would cost up to RM1.5B to implement an EMR system for the 145 hospitals nationwide in Malaysia over the next five years, according to an article by The Edge Markets.

Dr Dzulkefly last mentioned in November 2018 that it would take about three years to implement an EMR system across the country. Currently, 35 or 25% of the 145 government hospitals are already equipped with Hospital Information System (HIS), while 7% or 118 out of 1,703 government clinics have been equipped with Clinical Information System (CIS).

He said that among the HIS products being used currently are Cerner, iSoft, Fisicien, Profdoc, and Patient Management System for hospitals while clinics are using CIS products such as Teleprimary Care (TPC), Oral Health Care Information System (OHCIS) and TPC-OHCIS integrated system.

“Implementing this EMR System will directly improve the quality of service delivery by taking into account the confidentiality requirements of patient information. This is the reason why EMR as the foundation / pillar of Digital Healthcare is my goal and ambition as I lead the Ministry of Health,” said Dr Dzulkefly in a recent post from his Facebook page.

The same post also stated that the proposed implementation of the nationwide EMR will be under review for the next three to five years based on the availability of options.

Elsewhere in the Southeast Asia region, Vietnam is slated to deploy a nationwide EHR this month.