Slovakia signs €32m e-health deal

The Slovakian Ministry of Health has signed a €32.4m deal with US company Ness Technologies to implement the first phase of its electronic healthcare system.

The two year deal will provide an ‘electronic health book’ for every citizen to provide doctors with a patient’s health data.

It will also lead to the creation of a National Health Portal, to centrally distribute public health-related information to patients, staff and external organisations.

The company will also build eAllocation, an electronic appointment and scheduling system aimed at improving patient access to services, and e-prescribing system for drug distribution.

Ness Technologies will receive €17.8m to develop the system software and will also serve as the system integrator, while its partner Lynx will provide the security and infrastructure components for an additional €14.6m.

The two companies will work as part of a consortium to utilise technologies from international vendors.

Martin Kohut, managing director of Ness Slovakia, said: “Ness has delivered and acted as system integrator on similar projects in the US and in Israel.

“E-Health computerisation is a broad and complex task which requires a range of skills and expertise, and we and the consortium of companies we represent have an extensive track record in the field of healthcare informatics.”

Slovakia will begin the project immediately, with the first demonstrable prototypes and samples being presented at the National conference in May 2010.

Zoltan Kollar, managing director, Lynx, said: “The goal of this project is to enable the citizens of Slovakia to get better healthcare and improve the availability of information regarding the healthcare provided.

"The first phase of this project will create the basic pillars of healthcare computerisation in Slovakia.”

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