Sri Lanka Connected Health Alliance joins up with newly formed Sri Lanka College of Health Informatics in expansion of digital health innovations in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Connected Health Alliance will expand its horizon following the collaboration of Health Informatics medical speciality. This will support digital health innovations in the country.

Sri Lanka Connected Health Alliance recently extended a warm welcome to a trailblazing organization that is all set out to facilitate Sri Lanka in harnessing the power of digital health to achieve universal health coverage to all its citizens. 

The Ministry of Health in Sri Lanka has made a unique initiative to train medical doctors in health informatics, thereby creating a versatile set of professionals who are not only equipped with cutting edge knowledge in the application of informatics in healthcare but also with experience in capturing the complexities of the healthcare domain in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka College of Health Informatics brings together this small but versatile fraternity of professionals who are specializing in health informatics. 

The inaugural president of the College, Dr. Prasad Ranatunga mentioned that the primary objective of the College is to promote the advancement of knowledge, skills, and values in the field of health informatics to benefit the public by promoting intersectoral collaboration and fostering fellowship among digital health professionals in the country. He stated that the focus of the college is to facilitate the streamlining and standardization of health information systems in the country and thereby promoting the use of data and information for evidence-based decision -making in healthcare. 

The Secretary of the College, Dr. Uditha Perera stated that in order to achieve these objectives a set of working groups have been established. He also mentioned that the college intends to create expert groups on different domains related to health informatics such as telemedicine, standards, health information security, monitoring and evaluation of digital health implementations, etc., and to reach out to professionals in other relevant fields to share knowledge and expertise. The College also plans to facilitate capacity building by offering training programs to individuals who are working in health informatics related fields.