Malaysia has spent decades digitising public healthcare. Why are paper records still in use?

Registration is recorded electronically, appointments are managed through the hospital’s information system, and doctors can retrieve a patient’s medical information without having to wait for a physical folder to arrive from another department.

The idea behind an electronic medical record (EMR) is straightforward: instead of a patient’s medical history being stored primarily in paper files, the information is recorded and managed digitally, allowing authorised healthcare personnel to retrieve it when needed.

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