The Dubai Health Authority, DHA, has completed its preparations to launch the second phase of the unified electronic system ‘Salama’.
The second phase, which will be launched in August, includes Dubai Hospital, Dubai Diabetes Centre, the Family Gathering Centre and all Primary Health Care Centres.
Salama, launched in February 2016, is a DHA-wide project to enable patients and doctors access to medical records through a patient e-portal and ensure that patient e-files are available across all DHA health facilities.
The second phase of the project follows the success of the first phase, which was launched in April in Rashid Hospital, Barsha Health Centre, Airport Medical Centre, Dermatology Centre, and Dubai Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Centre.
Currently, more than 1.4 million DHA patient medical records and 112 million transactions have been transferred to the Salama system.
Amani Al Jassmi, director of Information Technology at DHA, said that to ensure the smooth transition to the new electronic system, patients will be requested to provide their Emirates ID, medical card and health insurance.
She added that Salama will allow vital patient information such as the patient’s medical history, surgeries the patient underwent, lab test results, and X-ray reports, to be accessed by DHA doctors from all DHA facilities. This will reduce the patient’s waiting time, costs, and allow patients to communicate with doctors quickly.
She explained that the system will allow doctors to use pre-customised order sets in seconds to provide patients the care they deserve faster.
Furthermore, she said that it will also allow administrators to prepare and print reports for patients more quickly so that they can focus their time on more important tasks and enable allied health to assess patient’s progress using historical lab results to make more informed decisions on their care.
Al Jassmi added that 11,000 DHA employees will be trained to use the Salama system, while the 60 employees who have worked on implementing Salama, have been trained in the UAE and the US by the international company EPIC.
A further third phase of the Salama initiative is set to launch in November to include Latifa Hospital, Hatta Hospital, Thalassemia Centre, Dubai Gynecology and Fertility Centre and all DHA Medical Fitness Centres.
