KATHMANDU, Sept 27: Health Minister Gagan Thapa has vowed to bring about major improvement in the health sector by introducing some technological reforms that, he claimed, would also lay the grounds for good governance in his ministry.
Thapa said he wanted to make healthcare-related data open and easily accessible in public domain for improving service delivery of the government agencies.
“Gathering data about vital information is very difficult nowadays. If sought data on certain matter from all districts, the local administrations will take at least 20 days to make it available,” Thapa said while addressing a function entitled Data Boot Camp Nepal, which was jointly organized by Nagarik Daily and Grande International Hospital in Kathmandu on Monday.
He said the existing situation can be changed by taking some measures such as introduction of e-procurement system, biometric e-attendance and other new technology.
“We can get data easily about availability of doctors and the current postings of doctors and other staffers just by introducing biometric e-attendance,” Thapa said at the gathering of national and international journalists, doctors and researchers.
Thapa said that he was very clear that more the authorities make the data open, more it can be feasible to ensure good governance.
Editor-in-Chief of Nagarik Daily, the sister publication of Republica, Dr Chakra Raj Pandey, medical director of Grande International Hospital, Brant Houston, Knight Chair in Investigative Reporting at the University of Illinois, USA, Syed Nazakat, editor-in-chief at Data Leads, and Surbhi Kaul, assistant editor, Data Leads, shed light on the importance of data-driven journalism in the healthcare sector.
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