The Republic of Kazakhstan is implementing a large investment project to computerize healthcare, namely the creation of the Unified Health Information System of the Republic of Kazakhstan (UHIS). Before deciding to scale up the UHIS, and to minimize the risks inherent in such large-scale projects, the management of the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan decided to audit the solution by engaging an international company and international consultants.
International consulting for the project to create the Unified Health Information System is carried out within the State Program for Healthcare Reform and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2005–2010, approved by decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as the Long-Term Development Strategy of Kazakhstan "Kazakhstan-2030: Prosperity, Security and Improved Welfare of All Kazakhstanis" (hereinafter, Strategy-2030) and a number of regulations in the areas of education, environmental safety and social protection.
Softline became the general contractor of the international consulting project, which was carried out with the participation of partner organizations: Microsoft Corp. (USA), Cisco (USA), Siemens (Germany), Ocean Informatics (Australia), the Ministry of Information Development of the Republic of Moldova, MUK (Ukraine), the Project Management Association (Ukraine), the Institute of Strategic Studies of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education (Ukraine) and the Center for Medical Statistics of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
As a result of the international consulting, recommendations were drawn up on the technical and information architecture of the UHIS, along with requirements for applying international health information standards in the project, requirements for organizing the management of such projects, recommendations on establishing a National Center for Healthcare Informatization, and recommendations on training UHIS users. International seminars were held to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The implementation of the UHIS in the Republic of Kazakhstan will make it possible to create a unified system for collecting, analyzing and storing information, to create and maintain electronic medical records for every person in the country, to give all practicing physicians access to information on best clinical practices, and to monitor the quality of medical services and other performance criteria using modern information technologies.