Medical professionals' worth estimated at approximately 530 Tenge.
Revamping Healthcare: Rethinking Digitalization in Kazakhstan's Medical Field
In a candid address at a healthcare system digitalization meeting, Irina Pivovarova, chairwoman of the Kazakhstan Society of Hematologists, voiced her concerns about the "imitation" of digitalization in medicine. As reported by Total.kz, she argued that the current digital setup largely involves transferring paper reports to computers, instead of generating big data and moving away from manual data entry.
"What we've come to see may be a developmental stage, but it's a fake digitalization. Because we've inherited tons of paper reports, and they've simply been transferred from paper to computers," Pivovarova stated.
She criticized the excessive paperwork doctors are burdened with, leading to professional burnout. In jest, she commented, "The patient is hindering the doctor's work because we need to work with the patient, not fill out forms and reports."
Particularly frustrated by the acute coronary syndrome patient record card, she explained, "I'm not a cardiologist, but these 'yes' or 'no' boxes turn out to become part of the medical information system due to formal approval."
Hospital admission dates, originally meant to be automated for convenience, have become a source of excessive data transmission with no decision-making outcomes, according to Pivovarova.
Telemedicine consultations, which could have significantly transformed healthcare during the pandemic, remain a contentious issue. Irina Pivovarova expressed a small-scale experiment of remote consultations, despite current restrictions preventing their implementation.
While Kazakhstan is making strides in primary healthcare through reform, telemedicine investment is seen as a subsequent vital step [2]. The role of technology is suggested to streamline standardized care tasks, enabling healthcare professionals to concentrate on complex cases [2]. However, challenges such as infrastructure and connectivity, regulatory frameworks, training and adoption, and patient acceptance need to be addressed to ensure seamless telemedicine implementation.
Science and technology can play a crucial role in addressing the challenges faced by Kazakhstan's medical field in implementing telemedicine for health-and-wellness, particularly during medical conditions like acute coronary syndrome. Telemedicine, with its potential to streamline care tasks and enable healthcare professionals to focus on complex cases, offers a promising solution. However, overcoming challenges such as infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, training and adoption, and patient acceptance will be essential for a successful and seamless implementation, contributing to the broader digitalization of medical-conditions management in Kazakhstan.
