E-READINESS: A CRITICAL FACTOR FOR SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF EHEALTH PROJECTS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES LIKE PAKISTAN

Abstract

ICTs are currently being used in developed and developing countries to improve access to sources of knowledge for both patients and health care providers. However, the undersized health and ICT sector in a country such as Pakistan limit its potential and wider benefits. Adoption of eHealth is a change process demanding lot of behavioral modifications in the work-environment for health workers particularly the doctors. Successful implementation and use of IT-applications in healthcare organizations is neither automatic nor purely technical process. It is rather a social process requiring less science and more art of developing, implementing and successfully using the new systems. Thus success and failure of any digital initiative in the healthcare organizations is squarely dependent more on the questions of use than on the issues of development. The technologies have gradually become less expensive and universally available. The only technical issue in the way of computerizing health services in the developing states like Pakistan is the readiness of healthcare professionals to adopt and use digital technologies. E-Health implementation on average is lower in public sector hospitals of Pakistan than private sector counterparts. Options for capacity development in health informatics are very limited in Pakistani institutions and have been reviewed on limited scale by the researchers; hence, it needs to be explored through available literature. This study aims to determine the readiness of doctors for successful e-projects’ implementation programs in the current situation and the way forward for policy makers in managing this critical issue in future.