PETALING JAYA: With Malaysia's senior citizen population set to roughly double by 2040, a fully integrated digitalised health record (DHR) system will be crucial to manage the looming ageing population crisis, according to a study by the Khazanah Research Institute (KRI).
The study titled “Digital Health Records in Malaysia: The Journey and the Way Forward”, released Tuesday (May 7) said this was crucial to address the issue of our current fragmented health information systems.
Referencing previous research by the institute’s research associate Ilyana Syafiqa Mukhriz Mudaris, the study said this was as the country’s growing ageing population - expected to grow from 7.4% in 2023 to over 14% by 2040 - would also result in more patients with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) that require constant care.
“A reliance on traditional paper-based methods could be potentially detrimental as patients shift from requiring episodic, curative care to long-term continuous care that is increasingly community-based.
“DHRs that allow seamless sharing of information between healthcare providers and easy patient access to medical records is something that should be implemented,” she wrote in her research paper in March last year.
The study recognised the challenges in implementing such DHRs such as the security and privacy risks, possible system design and implementation issues as well as existing inequalities in access and literacy in communities across the country.
To this, the study recommended a number of policy recommendations that could be implemented to overcome these issues.
“Digital health-specific legislations need to be updated since current provisions may not be comprehensive enough regarding how entities can collect, use and disclose health information.
“There must also be increased investment in foundational healthcare digitalisation which includes total life cycle costs of the system and existing infrastructure readiness.
“Consistent data standards must also be enforced thoroughly to facilitate proper public-private healthcare systems integration,” the study wrote.
The study also called on the need to promote public awareness of the importance of patient access to health which would promote increased inclusivity of all Malaysians.
“This is key to supporting a healthcare system reform that shifts away from medical paternalism to patient autonomy,” the study added.
The study is a consolidated summary of various research articles done by KRI’s researchers since March last year.
This includes the Institute’s deputy director of research Dr Rachel Gong, senior research associate Dr Jun-E Tan, Ilyana and former contract research assistant Lim Su Lin.
