Malaysian Hospital Revert to Manual Operations Due to Glitch

HIS System Breakdown Impacts Thousands of Patients

MALAYSIA: A major breakdown of the Total Hospital Information System (tHIS) in Malaysia’s northern state of Kedah has forced healthcare providers to resort to manual operations, affecting an estimated 3,000 patients. The incident, which occurred on 11 August, disrupted services across multiple public health facilities, including the 500-bed Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital.

Dr Ismuni Bohar, director of the Kedah State Health Department, stated, “Corrective actions and system access performance monitoring are now being taken to ensure this issue is comprehensively addressed.”

Widespread Disruption and Manual Workarounds

The system failure, which lasted more than 24 hours, significantly impacted patient care processes. Doctors were required to handwrite referrals, while nurses had to verbally confirm medication prescriptions with each patient. The breakdown also affected patient registration and access to medical records, leading to backlogs and delays in treatment.

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Business Continuity Plan Activated

In response to the crisis, the Kedah State Health Department has implemented its business continuity plan. Dr Bohar assured that the department “will also continue to monitor the developments and ensure that HIS recovery and restoration activities run smoothly so that patient care services are unaffected.”

Long-Term Solutions Proposed

To prevent future incidents of this nature, health authorities are considering migrating the tHIS to a cloud-based server. Dr Bohar explained, “As part of long-term initiatives, the Ministry of Health and the Kedah State Health Department plan to upgrade the existing [tHIS] system to a cloud-based system to prevent this kind of incident from happening again.”

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Broader Context of HIS in Malaysia

The incident highlights the ongoing challenges in Malaysia’s healthcare digitalisation efforts. Currently, only about 10% of public hospitals in the country operate with a Hospital Information System. The tHIS, which integrates clinical, administrative, and financial systems into a paperless framework, has been adopted by 10 general hospitals, while others use hybrid or manual systems.

Barriers to HIS Adoption

The slow adoption of HIS in Malaysian hospitals can be attributed to several factors, including limited technical expertise, financial constraints, and interoperability issues. These challenges underscore the complexities involved in modernising healthcare infrastructure across the nation.

Similar Issues in Dental Sector

The dental sector in Malaysia has also experienced comparable challenges with its information systems. The Teleprimary Care Oral Health Clinical Information System, used in over 100 clinics nationwide for more than two decades, has reportedly faced operational issues such as frequent system failures during peak hours and slow interface performance, leading to inaccurate and outdated patient records.

As Malaysia continues to navigate the digital transformation of its healthcare system, incidents like the recent tHIS breakdown serve as important reminders of the need for robust, reliable, and adaptable technological solutions in the medical field.