The Minister of Health, Dr. Fahrettin Koca attended the opening of the HIMMS’20 Eurasia Health Information Technologies Conference via video conference.
The HIMMS’20 Eurasia Health Information Technologies Conference is held in Istanbul between November 11 and 13, 2020.
In his speech, Minister Koca said that the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in a time when the humanity was feeling very strong and added, "We are waging an all out war against this pandemic with all of our knowledge and technological capabilities. Our biggest disadvantage is that we cannot prevent movement globally. Our biggest advantage, on the other hand, is the medical technology and IT infrastructure we have in place."
"Case tracking was made possible by IT systems"
Koca noted that the pandemic showed how important it was to integrate primary healthcare with hospital health systems on service provision and added, "In Turkey, case tracking, monitoring at home, delivery of medication and referrals to hospitals were made possible by IT systems. Again, these systems have supported us in tracking or preventing the movement of high-risk cases. Similarly, following the pandemic locally and country-wide and performing risk analyses have been made possible by using IT systems in healthcare."
"It is evident that healthcare services cannot be provided with the usual rules anymore"
Adding that the efficiency of the systems was tested once again because of the pandemic, Koca continued, "With an ever-increasing capacity, we are able to store and process the health data of the whole population. I see this as an opportunity to improve health, introduce the right health policies, and keep health spending at an optimal level. It is obvious that healthcare service cannot be provided with the usual rules anymore. It is not possible to plan and provide services without taking into account IT."
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