SILANG, CAVITE: WITH the support of Globe Business, the developers and users of free and open source software for use in health centers around the world have recently assembled for the first time in the country for the sixth annual OpenMRS (Open Medical Records System) implementers meeting.

 
Ana Maria Chupungco of the National Telehealth Center, University of the Philippines-Manila, said that the OpenMRS is a patient-centric medical record application that records medical interactions between health care providers and patients.
 
She also said that the meeting was being held outside the continent of Africa for the first time to give an opportunity for the Philippines to take on the leadership role in Asia as an OpenMRS implementer.
 
“It is a flexible technology platform that supports delivery of health care in some of the most challenging environment, and is an ideal tool for delivering IT services to the health sector because its design decisions are based on real needs, and is adaptable to the unique needs of users around the world,” she said.
 
Being open source, all process and software have been made transparent and knowledge, skills, experiences and failure have been publicly documented, she said.
 
She added that in the Philippines the local governments of Quezon City and Navotas City are now currently implementing the system, which started in the country since 2011, saying that they now encouraging other local governments to adopt the system.
 
Meanwhile, Chupungco said that OpenMRS, which was supported by many international organizations including international and government aid groups, NGOs as well as for profit and nonprofit corporations, is now in use in countries like South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania, Haiti, India, China, United States, Pakistan and many other places.
 
OpenMRS is built and maintained by a community of developers, implementers, and users working toward a shared and open foundation for managing health information in developing countries.
 
Chupungco said that the Philippines by hosting the 2012 OpenMRS Implementers Meeting hopes to encourage more Filipinos to become active members of the OpenMRS Community and build more health care capacity in the country.
 
This year’s event was attended by OpenMRS implementers and developers in 21 countries from around the world.