Susuga Rev.
Honourable Members of Cabinet
Members of the Health Program Advisory Committee
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I extend a warm welcome to you all and appreciate today’s occasion amidst the
Covid19 State of Emergency. I especially applaud the launching today of the E-
Health Developments because it is most needing, and been awaited.
It is a significant feat that after a decade of trials and errors, we have managed to
steer Samoa’s E-Health developments within our own context, and amidst great
global uncertainties because of Covid19. Through sector-wide approach and
development partner assistance, the establishment and rolling out of E-Health marks
a new fabric of the digitization age for the health sector in Samoa. The fact that we
needed to develop, guide, direct and own our direction in E-Health towards 2040;
has been the courageous stimulus for the Ministry of Health in this development.
I am pleased to note today’s achievement has come by and large with the notable
partnership between the Government of Samoa, the World Bank, the Government
of Australia and the World Health Organization. The Health Program Advisory
Committee must also be acknowledged for their persistence and unending support
in this endeavour.
Private Bag
Motootua
APIA
SAMOA
Tel: (685) 68100
Facsimile (685) 23483
Please address all
correspondence to the
officer whose signature
appears on this document.
2
The recent public health emergencies in Samoa highlighted several urgent issues in
the national health information system architecture. One of the major challenges
for the Health Sector was the need to transition to digital health systems under a
coherent eHealth strategy, as versus human resource capacity to meet the demands.
It is not a quick fix, neither was it supposed to be a band aid solution. Samoa’s E-
Health Policy and Strategy 2017 to 2022 expected a greater focus on strengthening
Health Information System, civil registration and vital statistics; and Government
expected no less.
In that connection, our E-health developments were divided into phases with Phase
1 commencing in 2020 with the implementation of mSupply. That is the Electronic
Logistics Management Information System (eLMIS), and Tupaia, a health data
aggregation and visualization tool. Phase 2 is the introduction of the Tamanu
Mobile for patient screening and this is being utilized for the COVID19 vaccination
data recording and management.
Phase 3 is the implementation of the patient-level electronic medical record
(Tamanu Desktop) at the main hospital here in Moto’otua and the referral hospital
at Tuasivi, Savaii. That also includes the implementation of the Tamanu desktop
and mobile at all remaining Government health facilities in Samoa, so that patient
data is captured across every incidence of care. Phase 4 is digitizing public health
reporting which also includes the establishment of the national data warehouse
(DHIS2), fully integrated with Tupaia and Tamanu.
Telemedicine is also another development launched today. This involves the use of
electronic communications and software to provide clinical services to patients
without an in-person visit. Telehealth and telemedicine definitions encompass very
similar services, including: medical education, e-health patient monitoring, and
patient consultation via video conferencing, health wireless applications,
3
transmission of image medical reports, and many more. The digital transmission of
medical imaging, remote medical diagnosis and evaluations, and video
consultations with specialists are all examples of telemedicine. This is the
provision of remote clinical services, via real-time two-way communication
between the patient and the healthcare provider, using electronic audio and visual
means. Telemedicine does not replace face-to-face consultation when it is needed
but instead complements it.
I am confident that the E-Health Developments launched here today will accelerate
improvement in data recording and analysis, strengthen health information and vital
statistics in Samoa. It is mainly my conviction, that these developments will further
strengthen our resolve in responding to key policy and implementation questions
and enable forward planning for health and development.
On behalf of the Government and People of Samoa I wish to thank our development
partners in health for their ongoing support to this remarkable milestone. I also like
to make special mention of the joint venture of Sustainable Solutions New Zealand
and Beyond Essential Systems Australia, which has served as the Consultant firm
assisting the Ministry of Health in these developments. Their commitment and
colleagueship is commended, in our determination to achieve this project.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to officially launch the E-Health
developments, for Samoa.
Soifua.