UMMC, UMSC, GHKL and Selayang Hospital to play key role
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA -- Nov 1, 2011 -- GE Healthcare (NYSE:GE) announced that progress for the establishment of the Diagnostic Services Nexus (DSN) is running smoothly, with Phase 1, consisting of setting up DSN and four initial hospitals, well underway.
This follows the announcement of DSN as an Entry Point Project (EPP) under the Healthcare National Key Economic Area (NKEA) of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) in March this year.
The DSN project comprises 3 phases, with Phase 1 being the initial set up in Sept-Dec 2011; Phase 2 being the domestic workload rationalization starting in 2012 through 2013; and beyond 2013, international insourcing in Phase 3.
While DSN was born of the vision to transform Malaysia into a global imaging center of excellence - first by building scale, capability and credibility domestically; and then offering world class imaging diagnostic services to the world -- the immediate benefit would be to redistribute the reporting workload, especially between the private and public sectors, and build capacity.
Workload Balancing
However, due to the shortage and uneven distribution of both major scanning modalities and radiologists, MRI scan wait times are up to several months in public hospitals as opposed to less than one week in private hospitals.
"DSN will help to effectively address this imaging workload imbalance, which is more dire in the rural areas," said Harry Goh, Government Affairs & Policy Relations Director, GE Healthcare Malaysia.
Four hospitals in Phase 1 linked up
The four hospitals involved are:
- Universiti Malaya Medical Center (UMMC), a leading tertiary medical center in the Klang Valley;
- University Malaya Specialist Center (UMSC), the private hospital of UM
- Kuala Lumpur General Hospital (GHKL), the largest general hospital in the country ; and
- Selayang Hospital, a state-of-art MOH tertiary hospital and the first fully IT-equipped (Paperless & Filmless) Hospital in the country
In this initial phase, excess workload from the two participating hospitals (GHKL and Selayang Hospital) will be sent to the hub (DSN@UMSC), then retrieved remotely by radiologists at the reporting center at UMMC's Imaging Department and read.
As explained by Mr Goh, "The systems setup includes broadband connectivity across all four sites, powered by GE's fully web-based multi-site Second Generation PACS solution,"
UMSC/UMMC was chosen as it is a respected tertiary and university hospital with one of the largest pool of radiologists (about 15% out of the 400+ certified radiologists in the country) residing under its roof.
According to Mr Goh , "Trial runs started on 5th October between the three hospitals, where MR images at GHKL were transmitted via a GE gateway to DSN at UMSC. These were then reported by UMMC radiologists with the results going back to GHKL."
DSN is targeted to "Go-Live" by November 2011 with an initial focus on MR, CT and general X-Ray exams.
"Going forward, further trials will be conducted with Selayang Hospital and other private-sector reporting sites. Our vision is to link and harness all radiologists towards balancing the national workload and in the long term, insourcing for Gross National Income (GNI) contribution," he added.
Insourcing and Future Targets
Currently, insourcing is done globally by countries like India and Singapore. According to the Global Teleradiology Market 2008-2012 Report, insourcing is a RM16 Billion market globally, and DSN is expected to have a GNI contribution of RM540 Million to Malaysia and create 1,500 jobs locally by 2020. This will include some 900+ radiologists and other highly skilled healthcare professionals.
Phase 2 of the project, which will run from 2012 -- 2013, will involve the linking up of :
- Several public hospitals in all state capitals across the country;
- 30 private hospitals; and
- 100 radiologists to come on board DSN to read the images
"Even though international insourcing is targeted to start towards end of 2013 in Phase 3, a number of healthcare facilities across ASEAN countries have indicated strong interest to subscribe to DSN's services and we expect to have three sites coming on board in 2012," MR Goh said.
About DSN
DSN was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in March 2011. It is the nation's teleradiology Centre of Excellence that will link up all the public and private sector radiologists into a national pool to balance domestic workload between public and private sector, and then turning health into wealth for the nation through insourcing of teleradiology services from overseas.
GE Healthcare will provide the technology and expertise investment to power DSN through the company's healthcare IT solutions. The company's technology currently powers most of Malaysia's Tertiary Hospital Information Systems. In Singapore, the National Healthcare Group (NHG) teleradiology cluster was set up by GE; and in the UK, 100 National Health Services (NHS) sites are linked by GE.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the world's toughest challenges. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, health care solutions and television programming, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.
Our "healthymagination" vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employees are committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.
For our latest news, please visit http://newsroom.gehealthcare.com.
For more information, contact:
Zatalini Zulkiply
Communications Manager
GE Corporate
+603 2267 1862
[email protected]
Khor Jiak Woen
ASEAN Marketing Manager
GE Healthcare
+ 603 2267 1885
[email protected]
Zatalini - Zulkiply
[email protected]
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