Media statement by Dr. Hiew King Cheu in Kota Kinabalu on Wednesday, 25^th April 2012:

Hospital doctors should be provided with I-pad

Since the Ministry of Health (KKM) is trying to improve the medical services in the country by going "E-health Care", there is a necessity to provide every doctor and specialist doctor an "I-PAD" for assist them in their work and to enhance their efficiency to care for their patient. "I-PAD" can be used to store the medical background information on the sick, the schedule on performing operation, on patient appointment, diagnosis and test requirement, medication record and report received, past medical history of patients, and other important medical data of the patients.

This personal computer can also record and keep in the file all the x-ray, MRI, CT scan images where the doctors can access immediate information from the main hospital computer files. These images can be enlarged using the computer to magnify the very fine details. When encounter with uncertain and unidentified diseases and symptoms, immediate information can be found through the internet search page. The camera in the I-PAD will be ideal when the patient's symptoms and signs needed to be photo for record and future reference, or send to other specialists for consultation and advice on treatment application. The video function can also be used to record the body operation, while the outstation accident's injuries where specialist doctor consultation is necessary can help, and also when urgent video conferencing on serious case can help to save the patient lives.

With the help of the multi-function of the computers (I-PAD), our doctors can actually improve their service to save lives with at hand details, reduced waiting time, keep up with appointments, precision in diagnosis, up dated information, simple prescription records and ample medical case-references. The most encouraging effect is the cutting down of paper work and communication delay between consultation, transfer of reports, documents, and test results. The doctors can even see patients while away from their clinics and hospitals. The present hospital system still has not been improved to a level to achieve fast attention, precision, without mistake, high convenient, low operational cost and easy access for everyone. Therefore, for a start there is a need to allow the doctors to have an "I-PAD" to help them with their work. This will also effectively cut down the operational cost of all clinics and hospitals in the country in the long run.

The Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai must look into this with urgency, and to supply each and every doctor in Malaysia with the I-PAD with free internet service, if he is serious in saving lives. The main computer data bank of the Health Ministry must be updated with all the required information for use by the doctors carrying the details of medicine availability, specialist doctors listed and availability, operation theatre availability, logistic arrangement, diseases profile and history, Pharmacy detail of drugs and its stock availability, and so on.

* Dr Hiew King Cheu, MP for Kota Kinabalu