Medical Officer (Health Informatics)
Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka
Overview
Dr. Chaminda Weerabaddana, an MBBS-qualified medical professional, has served the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka since 2003. Holding an MSc in Biomedical Informatics and MD in Health Informatics from the University of Colombo, he is a Board-Certified Consultant in Health Informatics. Certified in TOGAF and Picture Archiving, he also holds expertise in Prince 2 methodology and HL7 FHIR tandards. Currently spearheading the establishment of the National Terminology Service, he consolidates clinical data for a National Electronic Health Record. Dr. Weerabaddana's commitment lies in advancing health informatics for enhanced healthcare delivery in Sri Lanka.
Selected Publications
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John O, Sarbadhikari S, Prabhu T, Goel A, Thomas A, Shroff S, Allaudin F,Weerabaddana C, Alhuwail D, Koirala U, Johnrose J, Codyre P, Bleaden A, Singh S,Bajaj S. Implementation and Experiences of Telehealth: Balancing Policies With Practice in Countries of South Asia, Kuwait, and the European Union Interact J Med Res 2022;11(1):e30755.
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Rathnayake D, Wikramasinghe C, Weerabaddana C. Introduce new paper-based outpatient morbidity recording system to outpatient departments of public hospitals in Sri Lanka: feasibility study. Journal of Hospital Management and Health Policy. 2019 Sep 30;3.
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Mendis K, Weerasooriya TC, Withana S, Liyanage P, Silva AW, Wickramasinghe R,Weerabaddana C. Cloud-Based Open Source Primary Care Electronic Patient Record System for Sri Lankan Citizens. In2019 National Information Technology Conference (NITC) 2019 Oct 8 (pp. 41-46). IEEE.
Sri Lanka's Healthcare Information Development and Regional Cooperation: Opportunities and Challenges
Abstract
Sri Lanka's commitment to providing free healthcare at the point of delivery to its nearly 22 million citizens is a testament to its dedication to universal healthcare. With over 1100 healthcare institutions offering primary, secondary, and tertiary services, a significant portion of the population relies on these free services, making over 50% of outpatient department visits and nearly 90% of inward care engagements.
Despite this robust healthcare infrastructure, the adoption of digital health interventions has faced challenges characterized by uncoordinated initiatives and data silos. In both public health and administrative domains, data collection occurs vertically with minimal interoperability. These uncoordinated actions have led to increased data entry burden, poor secondary data use and increased cost.
In response to this, the collaboration between the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, the University of Colombo, and the University of Oslo initiated a Master's program in Biomedical Informatics in 2010 followed by an MD program in Health informatics in 2017. Graduates of these programs when absorbed into the Ministry of Health, triggered governance activities aimed at streamlining digital health in the state health sector.
This led to the formation of a National e-Health Steering Committee, overseeing four technical working groups, and the identification of the National Digital Health Architecture Blueprint (NDHAB) as a priority. International support from the World Health Organization and the Global Fund, financially backed by the Federal Republic of Germany, facilitated the development of NDHAB, a Costed Interoperability Plan, and a procurement strategy to standardize digital health capabilities.
The collaboration in the digital health domain of Sri Lanka extends to various entities, such as the University of Oslo, the DHIS2 community, AeHIN, OpenHIE, local software vendors, and government and private universities in Sri Lanka. These collaborations present numerous opportunities, including the potential to significantly impact population health by digitizing the state sector, achieving self-sufficiency in technological interventions, and adapting rapidly to health requirements.
However, challenges persist. Governance issues, changes in the Ministry hierarchy, limited donor contributions to the health sector, and policy gaps hinder progress. The Personal Data Protection Act poses limitations on data storage, impeding access to mature cloud solutions for scalable digital health deployments. Human resource shortages, particularly in ICT, along with rigid procurement processes and difficulties in engaging with poorly regulated private-sector practices, present additional hurdles.
This presentation will delve into Sri Lanka's transformative journey in developing its healthcare information landscape, highlighting the opportunities arising from collaborations and the persistent challenges that must be addressed to establish a robust, interoperable, and sustainable digital health ecosystem for a population of 22 million.