Question

Use textbook and/or Google to research adoption of HIT in a country of your choice. Do you think Open Source HIT maybe a good fit for that country, why or why not? What is the major barrier to HIT adoption, if any, in the country you chose?

Answer 1

1. Adoption of HIT in Tajikistan: In my opinion, open source HIT is a good fit for Tajikistan. Open source HIT builds bridges between open source communities of practice. Since this is a nonprofit initiative, it is always affordable for a poor country like Tajikistan. Open source HIT by several software technology firms are available and distributed under an open-source compliant license, which gives all the rights to use, change, study, and share the software in modified and unmodified form. Software freedom is essential in enabling development in the healthcare industry and open-source HIT has a significant role.in this process.

2. Major Barrier in HIT adoption in Tajikistan is the shortage of well-qualified software personnel. Being a poor country with low population density, they have not even considered introducing health information technology in hospital management. Technologically, the position of Tajikistan is far behind even the underdeveloped African countries. Lack of skilled manpower is a major hurdle in the technological advancement of any country and Tajikistan is no exception. The economic backwardness is the reason that prevents the technological advancement of the country along with the shortage of qualified professionals. There won't be many takers for the cure or prevention offered by HIT-controlled healthcare due to the unaffordability.