The Thailand National Digital Healthcare Workforce Development Initiative (WDI) was officially launched by the Thailand branch of an American not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving health.
The announcement was made on the opening day of the HIMSS AsiaPac 2019 conference on 7 October 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand. The initiative will focus on the development of a three-year work plan to address the demand of patients for digital healthcare services in light of the Thailand 4.0 digitisation journey, as well as healthcare tourism being one of the key economic drivers. Eight Thai hospitals have agreed to come on board to be part of the Thailand National Digital Healthcare WDI.
Through this collaboration, the organisation will focus on elevating the digital competency in the Thailand Healthcare workforce through the adoption of Healthcare IT certifications like Certified Professional in Healthcare Information & Management Systems (CPHIMS) and Certified Associate in Healthcare Information & Management Systems (CAHIMS) for capacity building in Healthcare Information core competency and Digital Health technology capabilities.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Health and the guest of honour at the conference opening spoke about Thailand’s ongoing efforts in promoting telemedicine, such as the pilot telemedicine project that was implemented in rural areas in eight provinces, which was reported on in March this year.
As part of the organisation’s Thailand National Digital Healthcare WDI, it also announced its intention to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with True Digital Group, a subsidiary of True Corporation, a leading communications conglomerate in Thailand, to create a HIMSS Digital Health Centre @ True Digital Park.
The purpose of the Digital Health Centre is threefold: to encourage more collaboration between different stakeholders in the industry, to accelerate the digital health workforce development and to create more exposure for digital health solutions in general.
The collaboration of the organisation together with local stakeholders in the Thailand healthcare ecosystem with a concerted effort to develop the Thai digital healthcare workforce bodes well for the future of digital health in the country.
Telemedicine on the Cutting Edge
- High-speed internet, mobile devices, applications, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and mixed-reality technology are all playing crucial roles in revolutionising telemedicine as Thailand faces a shortage of physicians and nurses.
- A prototype technology project uses emergency telemedicine via a high-speed digital network in remote areas, commissioned by Naresuan University in collaboration with the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Research and Development Fund for the Public Interest (BTFP).
- Adopting technology can improve the quality of life for citizens in rural areas, particularly for emergency medical treatment.
- The technology can synchronise data between district-level health promotion hospitals and large hospitals that have specialised physicians, improving medical services in small hospitals.
- In the future, all health data stored at the data centre will be processed through machine learning to he
