In today’s world of progression driven by technological advancement and the sheer force that comes with the constantly expanding population, creates a market for improved services and innovation to fulfil the demands of the residents. Dubai has proven to be a central hub in the arena of technology and continues to play a pivotal role in transforming the environment of their residents into a user friendly platform facilitating their everyday needs.
One such recent example is the introduction of a complex database management system that seeks to accommodate all medical records of patients and gathers them in a single nucleus revolutionizing the concept of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) in the region. This technology was tailored to accomplish a single purpose – achieving the vision of a city with digital healthcare which would improve patient care and safety and facilitate risk management and organisational quality.
The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) first launched the concept of a unified EMR system under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai in February 2016, which would serve the healthcare providers with outstanding comprehension and access to patient data whilst providing patients with accurate reports and treatment protocols.
The project was named SALAMA and developed in a manner that would allow it to be implanted over three phases with each phase focusing on specified allocated healthcare centres. The first phase was in April and it will be followed by implementation in August and finally in November encompassing all DHA centres in the country. The vision of this project seeks to produce an EMR for every patient in the country in two years.
After the implementation in April, SALAMA has had a transfer of over 1.4 million DHA pre existing records to the system and that number continues to grow as the days progress. Furthermore, SALAMA is an integrated interface that meshes together over 25 applications that function synchronously providing the healthcare providers with vital information inclusive of a comprehensive medical history, results of imaging or laboratory modalities used and the treatment protocols administered. This allows the healthcare provider to assess and diagnose using the consolidated data available to him to reduce patient waiting time and enhance communication with the patient.
To prepare the DHA staff for this advanced technological revolution over 11,000 members were trained in the skills required to utilize the system efficiently by an implementation team from the developers of the database management system. The EMRs would be accessible over all DHA centres hence allowing patients to present themselves at any relevant DHA facility, preventing appointment mishaps and reducing transport costs for the patients.
SALAMA will serve as an advanced data collection tool with features that will promote research and epidemiological studies that would pave the path for further innovation in the field of healthcare and the construction of guidelines and regulations for preventative medicine that should decrease the incidence and prevalence of disease whilst allowing the deployment of containment measures in situations where the risk of disease spread may be an imminent threat.
The data collected may further be used to develop a health strategy that should be implemented to achieve long term goals that revolve around improved healthcare. The system’s integrated backbone provides automatic cross referencing for medication and allergies preventing unwanted interactions. From an ecological standpoint SALAMA will eliminate paper from DHA facilities decreasing the carbon footprint in line with Dubai’s green vision.
The implementation of SALAMA marks a monumental moment in healthcare & justifies the nation’s position in the race to achieving technological reform in facilities provided by the government. This step towards the future will morph the face of healthcare to a gleaming path of development and progression.
