National Digital Health Day observed

KATHMANDU, July 20: Minister for Health and Population, Mohan Bahadur Basnet, has pointed out the need for increased use of information technology to make health services accessible to all.

Addressing a program through a video message from London today on the occasion of National Digital Health Day, Minister Basnet said it is a time to be involved, being devoted to take all to the access of health services by using information technology when 73 per cent households have access to mobile phones and 38 per cent families have internet service. The program was jointly organized by the Ministry and the World Health Organisation.

The minister mentioned, "The health ministry has forwarded activities related to capacity building as capacity building of health workers is necessary in the global competition of information technology." This year, the health ministry observed the Day under the theme 'Digitalization for universal access in health'. 

Stressing that the use of information technology should be through a one-door system, Minister Basnet's Public Health Advisor Bishworup Khadka shared that there is a problem where different statistics are received from every division of the Ministry in lack of full implementation of the one-door system. 

Similarly, Additional Secretary at the Ministry, Dr Bikash Devkota, pointed out the need of development and expansion of information technology in the health sector in order to provide telemedicine to paperless services, stating that this is the era of information technology. 

Likewise, Director General of the Department of Health Services, Dr Dipendra Raman Singh, laid emphasis on the need for connecting information technology with health services in order to establish universal access to health services. 

Claiming that the challenges of the health sector can be tackled in the current situation only through the use of information technology, World Health Organization Representative to Nepal, Dr Rajesh S Pandav, expressed happiness over the Ministry's necessary initiatives in this regard.  

Officials of the Health Ministry, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Provincial Health Ministry and Regional Health Directorate were present on the occasion.

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