ESAN University organized the Forum for Digital Health Reform and Transformation event in Peru, which took place virtually on August 21.
The objective of this event was for participants to learn about the advances in digital transformation in health in Peru and Latin America, and thus generate discussion spaces on its application for the reform of the management and delivery of health services in the country.
Recently, due of the health emergency in Peru by the COVID-19 pandemic, reforms and decrees have been presented to promote the use of Digital Health tools such as remote consultations and electronic prescriptions, nationally.
The pandemic accelerated processes that the government had contemplated for 2021, within the " Agenda Bicentenario 2021", which includes 21 commitments grouped into five categories: Integral, Competitive, Close, Reliable and Innovative and in this way manage to reform the digital system throughout the country, seeking to generate economic development and improve the quality of life of Peruvians.
In this context, the forum agenda contemplated the development of the following topics:
- Digital Transformation in Health in Latin America, presented by Luis Tejerina who serves as a leading specialist in the Division of Social Protection and Health of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
- Peru: Digital Agenda to the Bicentennial. Presented by the Secretary of Digital Government of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of Peru, Marushka Chocobar Reyes.
- The Digital Transformation in Health from a private perspective, which had as speaker Dr. Alfredo Guerreros, Corporate Medical Director of the Clínica Internacional at Lima. Corporate Medical Director of the International Clinic of Lima.
- Rectory in Health including eHealth/Digital Health.With the participation of Liliana Frida Má Cárdenas, who serves as Director General of the Directorate General of Telehealth of the Ministry of Health.
- Role of the Academy in the Reform and Digital Transformation of the Peruvian health sector. Presented by Ernesto Gozzer Infante, who currently serves as Professor at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, and was previously director of the National Institute of Health.
As part of his presentation Tejerina explained the importance of taking advantage of the efforts that have been made to achieve digital reform in Peru: “If we decide to make a leap towards digital transformation, we have to do it right. Other than that, we could have a lot of resources invested and wasted,” he added that these kinds of reforms represent direct benefits for the population: “there is plenty of evidence that digital transformation can lead to improvements in the quality of health care services and their efficiency.”
Tejerina also recognized the collaborative work within the strategies for digital reform: “When we talk about strategies, one begins to see a scheme that takes on a matrix form.” Strategies include the Ministries of Innovation and Technology and the Ministry of Health: “There must be a balance between the two agendas. But it is important that we keep in mind that the end of all this is to have results in health services. Technology needs to support citizens' health, reduce mortality, improve people's health,” he concluded.
On the other hand, the Secretary of Digital Government, Marushka Chocobar recognized that 47% of the population in Peru does not have internet access, which is included in the aforementioned agenda. She mentioned that the government must “deploy the digital infrastructure needed to ensure the scalability and availability of the state's cross-cutting digital services and platforms.”
