On the design of an electronic health patient registration system for South Africa

ICT investments in South Africa’s public healthcare have not resulted in the efficiencies envisaged as health information systems lacks interoperability. The approval of the eHealth strategy in 2012, introduces a roadmap for hospital information systems interoperability, thus, increase return on investment in ICT spending and improve the collection and quality of health data. EHealth Foundations priority area is one of 10 strategic priorities defined in the eHealth strategy and requires a central patient register for health information systems. This paper describes the requirements and challenges the project team considered in designing the electronic health patient registration system.