Press Releases

SFH begins four-nation visit to Europe (with photo)

The Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, has embarked on the first day of his four-nation visit to Europe, meeting Estonian government officials in charge of health and social policy.

Arriving at Tallinn this afternoon (May 13, Estonia time), Dr Chow met the Estonian Minister of Social Affairs, Mr Hanno Pevkur, and his team to learn about Estonia's healthcare system and the electronic health record (eHR) system.

Mr Pevkur introduced to Dr Chow the latest development of the eHR system in Estonia. It was learnt that the Estonian government applied e-Government services widely and that Estonia's healthcare system is built on the basis of mandatory insurance, which in turn requires healthcare providers to participate in eHR sharing.

Dr Chow was told that the eHealth project in Estonia involved various sectors of the community and the Ministry of Social Affairs took up the coordinating and directing role in implementing the project.

Dr Chow said he hoped that Hong Kong could learn from Estonia the various aspects of its eHR system including measures that have been adopted to ensure data standardisation and interoperability among different healthcare providers.

During his two-day visit to Estonia, Dr Chow will call on the North Estonia Medical Centre, the biggest hospital offering specialised medical treatment in Northern Estonia, and the Estonia ICT Demo Centre, a not-for-profit organisation promoting e-solutions to healthcare providers both domestically and internationally.



Ends/Thursday, May 13, 2010
Issued at HKT 19:37

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