Dong Nai requests extension to complete electronic medical records

Therefore, the Department of Health has sent a document to the Ministry of Health requesting an extension to complete the implementation of the EMR dossier until March 2026.

Electronic medical records - many benefits

As of September 30, the whole province has 16 medical examination and treatment facilities that have successfully deployed EMR records, ensuring the prescribed standards such as: Dong Nai General Hospital, Thong Nhat General Hospital, Dermatology Hospital, Dong Nai Children's Hospital, Dinh Quan Regional General Hospital and regional medical centers: Nhon Trach, Trang Bom, Tan Phu...

Dong Nai General Hospital announced the implementation of electronic medical records on September 12. Photo: Minh Tai

Speaking at the announcement ceremony of the EMR Management System of Dong Nai 2 Hospital, Specialist II Doctor Nguyen Van Binh, Deputy Director of the Department of Health of Dong Nai province, said: The implementing units have initially demonstrated effectiveness: reducing time for administrative procedures, supporting treatment, managing patient records scientifically, facilitating data lookup and sharing.

After 11 years of working at Long Khanh Regional General Hospital, Dr. Tran Minh Tai, Deputy Head of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, shared: Since the hospital implemented EMR, doctors no longer have to carry paper records to see patients every day. Not only that, with just a click of the mouse, all information about the patient's medical history, number of hospitalizations, medication use, etc. is clear, without having to search hard like with paper records.

“We save about 70% of the time compared to the previous paper medical records. The work is less stressful than before,” Dr. Tai added.

Dong Nai Province Dermatology Hospital is on the list of hospitals publishing electronic medical records on the Ministry of Health's information portal. Photo: Minh Tai

Specialist II Doctor Dao Tan Hiep, Deputy Director of Dong Nai Province Dermatology Hospital, said: Although it has just been implemented, the hospital's departments and rooms have applied EMR and electronic prescriptions.

“With financial support from the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Health, we have invested in information technology infrastructure: firewall system, servers, workstations, digital signatures... to implement EMR. Data security is also very important, so we have bid, selected the optimal solution, and coordinated with partners to ensure smooth operation" - Dr. Hiep expressed.

Difficulties in funding sources

According to the Department of Health, the Provincial People's Committee has invested more than 39.4 billion VND for hospitals/medical centers with beds in the old Dong Nai province to deploy EMR. Recently, medical examination and treatment facilities have been active in deploying, building, and standardizing information technology infrastructure and EMR record software.

In April 2025, the People's Committee of Binh Phuoc province (old) issued Official Dispatch No. 1781/UBND-KGVX on approving the policy of adjusting the investment policy to supplement the EMR information system investment item with an implementation cost of about 58 billion VND; assigning the Department of Science and Technology as the investor, coordinating with the Department of Finance, Department of Health and related units to implement.

Accordingly, 6 medical examination and treatment facilities in the province include: Binh Phuoc Provincial General Hospital (old), Provincial Traditional Medicine Hospital, Medical Centers of districts and towns including: Phuoc Long, Binh Long, Loc Ninh and Bu Dang (currently called Regional Medical Centers: Phuoc Long, Binh Long, Loc Ninh and Bu Dang) implement EMR.

The whole province has 29 hospitals/medical centers with public beds, including: 17 units under the Department of Health of Dong Nai province (before the arrangement), 12 units under the Department of Health of Binh Phuoc province (old). Up to now, Dong Nai has had 16/17 units under the Department of Health of Dong Nai province (before the arrangement) have deployed EMR and 4/12 hospitals with non-public beds have deployed EMR. Units under the Department of Health of Binh Phuoc province (old) have not yet implemented EMR.

However, due to the implementation of the reorganization of the provincial administrative apparatus, the implementation is slower than the schedule. Currently, according to the report of the Department of Science and Technology of Dong Nai province, these units are in the stage of posting bidding information on the National Bidding Network System, after 20 days the bidding will close according to regulations, it is expected that in November 2025 the contract will be signed and the announcement will be completed in the first quarter of 2026.

The Department of Health of Dong Nai province continues to deploy EMR to 6 units under the Department of Health of Binh Phuoc province (old) as planned. However, on September 18, the Department of Finance responded in Official Dispatch No. 3651/STC-HCSN regarding the budget for implementing EMR at 6 regional medical centers with beds. In particular, the Department of Finance requested the Department of Health to balance the non-autonomous budget estimate of the task "Funds for implementing EMR at hospitals/medical centers with beds: 39,420 million VND" assigned to the Department of Health to carry out the tasks in 2025.

For 2026, the Department of Health shall prepare a general EMR implementation budget estimate in the 2026 industry budget estimate and send it to the Department of Finance to advise the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the Provincial People's Council according to regulations. At the same time, the Department of Health is requested to direct its affiliated public service units to review and balance the unit's Career Development Fund (if any) to implement EMR. In case the unit's Career Development Fund is not guaranteed, the affiliated unit shall report to the Department of Health to synthesize the balance and arrange according to regulations.

In addition, according to specialist doctor II Le Quang Trung, Deputy Director of the Department of Health, the health sector cannot meet the Ministry of Health's "deadline" of completing EMR by September 30 due to many objective and subjective reasons.

Specifically, the information technology infrastructure in many medical units, especially regional units, is still limited and not synchronized, the network transmission lines and hardware equipment do not meet the requirements for operating the EMR system. Investment funding for information technology, software and security is still limited and does not meet the prescribed progress.

In addition, the lack of funding for the 6 units that have not yet deployed EMR requires the Department of Health to have more time to complete the deployment of EMR records in Dong Nai province...

Medical staff at Dong Nai 2 Hospital perform electronic medical records. Photo: Minh Tai

To ensure the implementation of EMR is synchronous, quality and effective, the Department of Health has sent a document to the Provincial People's Committee and the Ministry of Health for consideration and reporting to the Government for permission to extend the time to complete the implementation of EMR records until the end of the first quarter of 2026.

Bich Nhan

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/xa-hoi/y-te/202510/dong-nai-xin-gia-han-hoan-thanh-benh-an-dien-tu-41c3f57/