Malaysia

HIC is responsible for managing the development and distribution of SNOMED CT in Malaysia.

In December 2009, HIC began the initiative to become a member of IHTSDO. Consistent involvement with IHTSDO activities allowed HIC to learn more about IHTSDO as an organization, SNOMED CT, and the possible benefits to Malaysian healthcare as a whole. Over time, the use of SNOMED CT has also piqued the interest of clinicians and health managers in Malaysia.

In October 2012, the Malaysian team, comprised of HIC staff representing MoH Malaysia and staff from MIMOS, a government-funded R&D ICT agency, attended the annual IHTSDO Conference and SNOMED CT Implementation Showcase in Sweden. At the event, we gained significant knowledge about how SNOMED CT was developed and continues to be further expanded, about its current application to ICT environments and about the implementation experiences of other countries. In December 2012, Malaysia formally became the 22nd member of IHTSDO, now SNOMED International. 

HIC bears the responsibility to produce and disseminate trustworthy health and health-related information in a timely manner on behalf of MoH to national and international agencies. To fulfill this role, HIC has four main functions:

1. Data management:

HIC develops and manages the national Health Information Management System (HIMS), which collects health data for health statistical reports. It serves as a platform that allows MoH stakeholders to make evidence-based decision making and planning. HIC is also in charge of identifying new health indicators, health information and data for the MoH. Data quality is vigorously checked by monitoring the submitted reports, followed by data cleaning for granular data.

2. Publication and dissemination:

HIC analyzes data collected from various HIMS and produces reports for the MoH. It also manages requests for health information from national and international agencies.

3. Health informatics standards:

HIC ensures integration and interoperability between various health facilities, especially in collecting information from primary sources for secondary use. HIC manages development, maintains versioning, reviews requests, provides training and promotes the use of health informatics standards.

4. Strategic health information planning:

HIC plans, develops and manages related projects in gathering health and health-related information for MoH, such as leading the Malaysian Health Data Warehouse (MyHDW) project and the Geographical Information System.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) Malaysia immediately began planning its approach for developing and implementing SNOMED CT after becoming a Member of the organization. The decision was made to try and meet the needs of clinicians and health managers interested in using SNOMED CT for clinical and secondary data analysis. There is the belief that providing early results within the first one or two years after adopting SNOMED CT will encourage a high level of buy-in from stakeholders. As a result, MoH proposed the development of two local RefSets, which will be implemented in an EHR environment to create a SNOMED CT coded database for further analysis.

More information about SNOMED CT in Malaysia can be accessed here: www.moh.gov.my