Uruguay is one of the countries in the region that has made the greatest progress in digital transformation in health
The digital transformation strategy of the health system in Uruguay began to take shape more than 15 years ago. A health reform in 2007 promoted the creation of the National Integrated Health System (SNIS), which in turn promoted the implementation of the Salud.uy strategy in 2012. Through Salud.uy it was possible to define the standards and guidelines for creation of the National Electronic Clinical Record (HCEN), one of the greatest achievements in Digital Health achieved in Uruguay in recent years.
With the support of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), a delegation of officials from the Ministry of Health of El Salvador (MINSAL) visited Uruguay from June 6 to 8. The purpose of the visit was to learn about the advances in Digital Health achieved by Uruguay.
“Uruguay takes more advanced steps in relation to many countries in the region and for us it is important to accompany this delegation from El Salvador to see what the potentialities and limitations are that they had in this implementation agenda and to mark the critical routes within El Salvador to be able to advance and obtain results such as those that Uruguay has”, he explained. Ángel Manuel Álvarez, Communicable Diseases and Immunization consultant at PAHO headquarters in El Salvador.
Ricardo Ruano, director of Health Technologies of the MINSAL, I can learn about various projects such as the HCEN; the teleultrasonography project of the State Health Services Administration (ASSE) at the Pereira Rossell Hospital Center, which offers remote pediatric and prenatal care; o The National Information Node for Mammography of the National Cancer Institute; among others.
On the other hand, members of the delegation from El Salvador and PAHO recognized the advances in telemedicine, and were able to learn about the telecare process and how queries are answered. In this sense, Óscar Gianneo, advisor to the General Directorate of Health of the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) of Uruguay, explained that the telemedicine law was promoted during the pandemic, which was key to the adoption of this care modality.
El Salvador, for its part, has advanced little by little, in 2020 it began to promote the electronic clinical file, and to provide connectivity to first-level health centers. Likewise, one of its most recent achievements was obtaining an accreditation from the European Commission in its digital certificate of vaccination against COVID-19.
