Role of InfoTech in
Healthcare in the Context of
Nepal
Presenters:
Rabi K.C.
Asbin Khanal
Kriti Khanal
Department of
Biotechnology
Kathmandu University

Case Study and Presentation Overview
About The Topic Stakeholders of
the Topic
InfoTech in
Healthcare
around the
World
Challenges faced in
Medical sector in
Nepal
Solutions
Benefits Conclusion

About The
Topic
InfoTech in
Healthcare improves
the quality, safety,
and efficiency of
healthcare
Health IT provides
better care for the
patients and help
achieve health equity
People in Nepal are
facing unnecessary
challenges in medical
services due to the
lack of Health IT
Application of Health
IT can potentially
resolve all the
problems in
Healthcare in Nepal

Stakeholders of the topic
IT companies Health institutions
Research
Organizations
ISPs and Server
companies
Programmers and
Developers
Patients and Medical
professionals

Use of Infotech In
Healthcare around the
World
 Use Summit for COVID-19 Vaccine
 COVID-19 Patient Contact Tracing
 Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
 Health record exchange in EU
 Robotic Surgery

Use Summit for COVID-19 Vaccine
 “Summit” is the IBM's supercomputer equipped
with the “brain of AI”.
 It ran thousands of simulations to analyse the
drug compounds that might effectively stop the
coronavirus from infecting host cells.
 The supercomputer identified 77 drug
compounds.
 The use of Worlds’ fastest supercomputer is
believed to save about 10 years of research time.

COVID-19 Patient Contact Tracing
 Government of China used mobile phone apps to
follow and, perhaps, help slow the spread of the
coronavirus, COVID-19.
 Apps provide up-to-date information about
locations with the virus, while others collect data on
infected persons.
 The Chinese government worked with two of the
country’s largest technology companies (Alibaba
Group and Tencent Holdings )to track the disease.

Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
 Finland, Holland, Denmark, Sweden has been
practicing the digital health EMR for decades.
 Finland strategized in 1996 to create a state-wide
EMR system that centres on secure access to
information for patients and meaningful access to
high-quality health information for both doctors
and patients.
 Such information is now readily available to Finnish
healthcare professionals and their patients.

Health record exchange in EU
 European Commission has adopted a
recommendation that seeks to facilitate the
cross-border interoperability of EHRs.
 Citizens can securely access and exchange
their health data wherever they are in the EU.
 Example: Consulting a specialist or receiving
emergency treatment in another EU country
without delay.

Robotic Surgery
 In the 1990s, the U.S. Defence Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) began combining robotics with computer
networking to remotely treat injured soldiers on the
battlefield
 More than 5,000 surgical robots were used in more than 1
million procedures worldwide in 2018 which spanned:
o Orthopaedics and urology,
o general surgery,
o gynaecology, and neurology,
o thoracic, and otolaryngology,
o bariatric, rectal and colon,
o multiple ontologies – even dental implants and hair
transplants.

Challenges in Nepal
due to lack of Health
IT
 Citycentric Health Services
 Medical Errors and Inefficient
Health Records
 High Casualties due to Improper
Methods of Contact Tracing
(COVID-19)
 Medication Errors

Citycentric
Health
Services:
Proper health
services are still
available only in city
areas of Nepal.
People in rural areas
are dying with simple
infections and minor
health hazards due to
lack of supervision of
doctor and
prescriptions.
The complex
geography and city
centric hospitals
make patients travel
a long distance for
minor treatments.

Medical Errors and Inefficient Health Records:
People go through some tests, multiple times when they visit different health
institutions.
This has significantly increased the time of service and the cost of medical
service.
Unmanaged patient records and, the errors in the documentation have led to
false prescriptions, wrong treatments, and even the death of patients.

High Casualties
due to
Improper
Methods of
Contact Tracing
(COVID-19):
Nepal Government failed to in
Contact Tracing of the COVID-19
patients.
Government used the statements of
patients for Contact tracing which
relatively slower.
By the time they trace the movement,
the number of casualties would have
grown exponentially.

Medication Errors:
Illiterate and old aged people are
not able to follow the schedule of
the prescribed medication.
People often forget or let slip the
medication schedule.
Due to this, the healing period of
disease increase and in some cases,
people even lose their life.

Solutions
 Storing and Updating Medical
Information using Medical
Informatics
 Implementation of EMR
 Telehealth to Decentralize
Healthcare
 Mobile Health Apps
 Electronic Medical
Prescriptions
 Clinical Decision Support
(CDS)

Storing and
Updating
Medical
Information
(Medical
Informatics:
A physician's brain, cannot keep up with the
exponential growth in medical knowledge that will
occur in forthcoming years.
IT-based decision support system helps doctors to
learn rapidly changing state of medical knowledge.
Health IT updates the medical informatics and help
doctors to understand what the changes mean for
the treatment of specific patients.

Implementation of EMR (Characteristics)
Less time consuming than paper
based methods
Reduces the risk of errors of
patient data and financial details
Error-less and efficient decision
making

EMR Provides
Doctors with
real time
patient
information
like
Patients medical condition
Visits to health providers
Images and reports of diagnostic procedures
Schedule of services
Allergies and contact information to caregivers
Complete longitudinal record of care evidence based on decision support
tools

Telehealth to Decentralize Healthcare
Telehealth decentralize the Healthcare delivering health-related services and information that
support patient care, administrative activities, health education, health services, and
information over distances .
It increases the reach of health service to all with convenient patients’ care, access to care, and
reduce the transportation cost.
Telehealth sources expertise within seconds anywhere and effectively mediates the diagnostic
shortages and surplus.

Telehealth includes:
Tele-homecare Video-conferencing Electronic health records

Mobile Health Apps and their use:
Chronic care
management
Medication
management
Medical
reference
Diagnostics
Personal health
records
Women’s health
Fitness and
weight-loss
Mental health
Tracing Patients
with help of GPS

Electronic
Medical
Prescriptions:
E-prescription helps patients over a
long distance to connect with
doctors anywhere.
It is two-way transmission between
the point of care and the dispenser
to minimize prescription errors due
to unreadable physicians’
handwriting.
E-prescription uses electronic media
of prescription between a prescriber,
dispenser, pharmacy manager, either
directly or through an intermediary,
including an e-prescribing network.

Clinical
Decision
Support
(CDS):
Benefits
Warns of potential problems.
Provides suggestions for treatment.
Increases adherence to clinical guidelines, protocols, and best
practices.
Provides timely information to help inform decisions about a
patient's care.
Avoid medication errors, and to prevent complications

CDS
encompasses:
computerized alerts
and reminders to care
providers and patients
condition-focused
order sets
diagnostic support

Internet of
Medical
Things
(IoMT)
Medical devices connected to a healthcare provider’s computer system
through the internet
Smartwatches that monitor heart rates and track movement
Sensor-enabled hospital beds, and infusion pumps
Contact lenses that read glucose levels
Biometric stamps that report the wearer’s vitals
Medication-tracking systems, and medical supply and equipment inventory
tracking
Necklaces that analyse chewing and swallowing – and alert the wearer when
they’ve had too many carbohydrates

Potential of
IoMT:
Improved management
of pharmaceuticals
Enhanced patient
experience
Improved patient
outcomes
Improved diagnosis and
treatment
Remote monitoring of
chronic diseases
Improved disease
management

Benefits of
implementing
Health IT in
Nepal
Reducing healthcare costs
Predicting epidemics
Avoiding preventable deaths
Improving the quality of life
Reducing healthcare waste
Improving efficiency and quality of care
Developing new drugs and treatments

Proposed Architecture diagram for the Use
of InfoTech in Healthcare in Nepal

Conclusion
Information technology has the potential to substantially
improve healthcare by bringing decision support to the
point of care, by providing vital links and by allowing
routine quality measurement to become reality.
With the help of IT, it is possible to transform health care
and improve patient safety by better leveraging
information technology to improve the efficiency,
accuracy, and effectiveness of the health care system.
As for today in Nepal, hospitals are slowly moving
towards clinical information systems, which helps them to
lower their cost, to raise the quality, and to improve their
cash flow as well as provide efficient and reliable
healthcare to the patients.

Thank You!
Presentation Submission
Course Instructor:
Mr. Sushil Shrestha
Teaching Assistant:
Mr. Pratit Raj Giri