Is South Africa ready for a national Electronic Health Record(EHR)?

Abstract

eHealth Strategies in countries have shown a trend that countries are moving to Electronic Health Records(EHR). EHR implementation is expected to produce benefits for patients, professionals, organisations, and the population as a whole. The use of some format of an Electronic Health Record is used by many countries and others are in the implementation or planning phases. South Africa has kicked of the project to implement a national EHR as part of the national eHealth Strategy. This study aims to analyse the key success factors from other EHR implementation projects and evaluate if South Africa is ready to implement an EHR.