Towards a centralised health information system

Islamabad : Minister for Health Amer Mehmood Kiani Wednesday tabled the need to establish an integrated national level health information system in order to guard against the kind of overlapping and duplication currently being experienced, with multiple information systems operational.

Kiani made this suggestion while presiding over a Health and Population Think Tank (HPTT) meeting, which was also attended by Health Secretary Zahid Saeed, Director General Health Dr. Assad Hafeez, relevant personnel of the provincial and area health information systems, WHO, UNICEF, NADRA and private sector health care representatives among other academics and international subject experts through recorded messages.

“Only by having quality information can plans be properly made and executed. The government is working to address and uplift the health of Pakistanis for which resources will be made available to improve the efficiency of the Health Information Systems of Pakistan,” the Minister stated.

The discussions highlighted the key challenges faced by the Health Information Systems of Pakistan. These included, overlapping and duplicating information; poor data quality; lack of analytical capacity to use facility and community-based information to develop responsive service delivery strategies and community-based interventions; lack of regulatory authority to ensure standardised data systems across provinces; lack of a centralised data repository; and private sector not being captured in existing systems.