Zakir et. al., Importance of Healthcare Informatics and Information ....

Importance of Healthcare Informatics and Information Technology in

Development of Unani System of medicine

1 2 3
*Mohammad Zakir , Syeda Hajra Fatima & Munawwar Husain Kazmi
1 1
Research Ofcer/Lecturer, Professor, Department of Ilmul Advia
2
Research Ofcer (Pathology), National Research Institute of Unani Medicine for Skin Disorders, Hyderabad
E-mail: urzakir@rediffmail.com

ABSTRACT
Computers are like Old Testament Gods; lots of rules and no mercy” this is the famous
quotes from the American Professor Dr. Joseph Campbell. This is one major fact some
people negate to learn computing. But now a day, computing is the one of the constant
factors for the development of the any system. Currently, in Medical system, lots of
advance computer based technologies have been used successfully. Software and
hardware technologies comprise about 70% of the modern medical system, which may
be one of the reasons for fastest and advanced development of the modern medical
system. In AYUSH system of medicine especially in Unani system there is a hesitation
about adopting Information Technology (IT) related techniques. Some of the Unani
physician and academician have come forward and tried to incorporate some technology
in the system. Ministry of AYUSH has started many programmes to develop the AYUSH
system with the help of Information technologies and inclusion of IT techniques are now
in priority for development and validation of AYUSH system. It is the need of the hour to
adopt some IT techniques for storing, analyzing and validating the data of Unani system
to prove safety and efcacy of Unani medicine.
Key Words: Information Technology, Unani System, AYUSH, Validating Data

Introduction community, the interactions between Unani

Information and Communications Technology
(ICT) is the study of the technology used to handle
information and aid communication. It
encompasses areas such as telephony, broadcast
media and all types of audio and video processing
1
and transmission . It also includes computers as
well as necessary enterprise software,
middleware, storage, and audio-visual systems,
which enable users to access, store, transmit, and
2
manipulate information . The inclusion of
Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) for the modernization and globalization of
Unani system of medicine is necessary. In this age
to meet the healthcare demands of the world
medicine and IT industry are essential. The latest
technological support may be developed by IT
expert as per Unani concept to develop some
software which may cut short the paper work and
generate authentic data for further development of
Unani system. The ICT revolutionizes the
healthcare system through development of
various software and applications for paperless
functioning of the system. ICT technologies have
enormous capability to enable reliable storage,
retrieval, transfer of the data and analysis of this
3
data .
Status of Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) in Healthcare: In Canada

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Zakir et. al.,
initiative to modernize ICT in healthcare was
started in 2001 and in 2015 they have created the
HER of 91% Canadians. 91000 clinician and 77%
of family doctors were using HER. In 2001,
England also started initiative called the “National
Plan for IT” (NPfIT) for modernizing its
healthcare system and created Summary Health
Records (SCRs) (EHR) of 96% of the population.
In Germany, about 90% of physicians in private
practice are using EHR systems. In Korea,
nationwide health information exchange (HIE) is
being used in most tertiary hospitals. A platform is
being built for the exchange of health information
among the healthcare facilities. The United States
76% of hospitals had adopted basic EHR systems
till 2014. Ithasbeenreportedthat97%of
theacutecarehospitalshaveadoptedcertiedEHRs
4
ystems .In India, the level of use of ICT in the
healthcare sector in the country has been lower in
comparison to other countries. Union and State
Governments are working on several fronts to
make use of the opportunities offered by ICT.
Private sector hospitals are also in the process of
implementing ICT projects, including electronic
patient records (EHR). Some of the corporate
hospitals in India, such as Max Health, Apollo,
Sankara Nethralaya, Fortis, etc., have
implemented integrated ICT systems in place,
covering all aspects, i.e., registration and billing as
well as laboratory and clinical data. Max
Healthcare hospitals started implantation of EHR
in its hospitals in 2009 and achieved a lot in this
area. The Apollo Group also has also implemented
EHR in its hospitals in its centers. An Integrated
Health Information Platform (IHIP) is being setup
by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
(MoHFW). The primary objective of IHIP is to
enable the creation of standards compliant
Electronic Health Records (EHRs) of the citizens
on a pan-India basis along with the integration and
interoperability of the EHRs through a
comprehensive Health Information Exchange
(HIE) as part of this centralized accessible
platform. Govt. of Rajasthan launched integrated
Health Management System (IHMS) 5.
Health informatics (HI) or Healthcare
Jan. 2020 – June 2020, Volume XII, Issue 1: 16
Importance of Healthcare Informatics and Information ....
informatics (HCI): It is an interdisciplinary study
of the design, development, adoption and
application of IT-based innovation in healthcare
services delivery, management and planning. It
deals with the resources, devices, and methods
required optimizing the acquisition, storage,
retrieval, and use of information in healthcare
system. The tools of HI are computers, clinical
guidelines, medical terminologies and
information and communication system. It is
applicable in clinical medicine, pharmacy, public
health and other health areas6. Health informatics
is the development and assessment of methods
and systems for the acquisition, processing and
interpretation of patient data with the help of
knowledge from scientic research. According to
the denition medical informatics is the discipline
concerned with the systemic processing of data,
information and knowledge in medicine and
healthcare. The domain of medical informatics
covers computational and informational aspects
of processes and structures in medicine and
healthcare7.
The basic goals of Health informatics (HI) or
Medical Informatics (MI) are:
l To provide solutions to problem related to
data, information and knowledge
processing.
l To study general principle of processing
data, information and knowledge in
medicine and healthcare.
IT Tools for clinicians and academics: There are
few database developed by private institutes and
Government of India such as Triskanda Kosha,
Trisutra, NAMASTE Portal 8 and AYUSH
Research Portal9etc. Some software has also been
developed to digitalize fundamental concepts of
Ayurveda like Prakruti Praikshana10 etc. There are
also so many tools available for teaching &
training such as teaching methodology, webinar,
video conferencing and online courses like
11
MOOCs (Massive online open courses) etc.
Some MOOCs are developed and delivered by
12 13
Coursera and NIOS (National Institute of Open
Schooling) etc. these IT techniques can be used to
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Zakir et. al.,
strengthen the Unani system of medicines.
Health Records: Management of health record is
a mammoth task when it is done by manually, it
needs manpower as well as several other resources
like paper etc. The maintenance and analysis of
huge data is not an easy task and it further needs
many resources. The transfer of data is not
possible and cumulative processing of all data is
almost impossible in manually prepared data of a
hospital. The information technology has
provided solution for this mammoth task by
developing electronic health records software
(EHR). These softwares reduced the involvement
of manpower as well as other resource and have so
14
many benets over the manual data .
Personal Health Record (PHR): A personal
health record is a health record where health data
and other information related to the care of a
patient is maintained by the patient itself.
Electronic Medical Records (EMR): It is
patient's medical information entered and stored
by a particular hospital.
Electronic Health Record (EHR): Computer
processable information relevant to wellness,
health and health care of an individual is called
electronic health record of a patient. It is stored in
repositories and communicated securely and can
be accessible by multiple authorized users. Its
primary purpose is the support of life-long,
effective, high quality and safe integrated
healthcare.
Advantages of having e Health Record:
I. Healthcare service providers like doctors,
nursing and other paramedical staff,
laboratories and pharmacies can see it
online from anywhere at any time when
they need to, like in an accident or
emergency.
ii. No need to carry bulky papers containing
hard copies of investigations and past
treatment.
iii. The Need for repeat investigations will be
minimized.
iv. Right treatment at the right time by
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Importance of Healthcare Informatics and Information ....
Healthcare service providers.
v. Can seek consult from other city by
sharing HER electronically by self or by
relative or friend.
Hospital Information (Management) System:
It is also called Clinical information system (CIS);
it is as comprehensive, integrated information
system designed to manage the administrative,
nancial and clinical aspects of a hospital. It has
all information stored in a server as a secure data.
This data may be utilized to conduct various
studies and can give authentic information within
a second by just clicking a button.
Conclusion: On the basis of above mentioned
information and discussion Development of IT
tools and methods according to the need of the
system should be prioritized and implemented as
soon as possible for overall development of the
Unani system of medicine. Incorporation of IT
techniques in Unani system will increase its
authenticity and will boost morale of IT savvy
young generation. Development of e-Books,
online journals, online courses and some software
for basic fundamentals like Nabz and Mizaj may
be developed with the help of IT experts. Adoption
of HER in Unani hospital is the need of hour; it
will generate reliable, safe, communicable and
authentic data which may be used for overall
development of Unani system. It will reveal the
strength and weakness of the system and can guide
researchers and academician to prioritize the area
of research. Adoption of IT techniques like online
courses, webinar can help Unani doctors who can't
access the expert opinion or resource due to
various reasons. Validation and analysis of huge
data generated by numbers of Unani physicians,
students and academicians will improve the
quality of healthcare provided by Unani system of
medicine.
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