Managing personal health records at the commune level: Who benefits?

The selected provinces and cities are Hanoi, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Ha Tinh, Ho Chi Minh City, Khanh Hoa, Lam Dong and Long An. Accordingly, each province participating in building the pilot model will select 3 stations in three regions (regions 1-2-3) classified according to the level of difficulty of people in accessing hospitals, medical centers or regional polyclinics.

According to the Ministry of Health, one of the objectives of this Project is to establish and manage personal health records. Comprehensive and continuous health management will help detect most common diseases early and resolve them early at the initial medical examination and treatment level, limit complications and severe disease progression, help reduce hospital overload, and reduce pressure on the health sector.

However, the implementation of personal health records at commune health facilities has not yet maximized its effectiveness due to difficulties in financial mechanisms and service provision capacity...

Mr. Le Nhat Thanh - Director of the Center for Preventive Medicine of Huong Son district, Ha Tinh province said that currently 32/32 communes in Huong Son district have implemented the establishment and management of personal health records, with nearly 50% of the population in the whole district. However, people still do not understand the meaning of establishing personal health records.

“We focus on propaganda so that people understand the important role of creating personal health records, to manage people's health well. The implementation requires a lot of funding, while at the grassroots level there are still many difficulties for the district and commune levels. Hopefully, when implementing the commune health station model, 6 communes of the district will receive attention from the health sector and gradually manage people's health effectively as the goal of the Project" - Mr. Le Nhat Thanh said.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said that in the coming time, 26 commune health stations that are building pilot models need to gradually implement the establishment and management of records by household. This is the health care line closest to the people, the fastest to provide primary health care for the people.

According to the Ministry of Health, 26 commune health stations implementing the pilot model will deploy health management, management, monitoring, and treatment of non-communicable, chronic, and mental diseases... at home and in the community; At the same time, organize periodic health check-ups for a number of subjects such as the elderly, the disabled, and children under 6 years old. In addition, commune health stations implementing the pilot model will establish a two-way health management and monitoring system between the upper levels and the commune level.

Creating a health record will reduce inconvenience for patients and make it easier for doctors and nurses. Doctors and nurses will have access to basic health indicators and medical history, and from there, they can guide, advise, and provide the best and most appropriate treatment and health care regimen for each person./.