Bahrain Awards Indra Development And IT Management Of Its National Healthcare System
Bahrain’s Ministries of Health and Defense awarded Indra the development and global operation of all the applications of its National Healthcare system network, including hospitals and health centres for approximately 60 million Euros and an execution period of 11 years.
It is an avant-garde project in the Persian Gulf in terms of implementation and operation of an integral healthcare system with a similar structure to that of Spain. It will allow Indra to deploy the technology developed in this sector as well as its proven experience in an emerging area with a strong growth rate which is boosting the modernisation of its private and public healthcare systems. The project was an initiative of King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa in order to offer citizens the best and most advanced healthcare services.
The contract includes the supply of the applications of all assistance levels such as medical records, the electronic prescription, primary and hospital care, emergency management systems, outpatient radiology services, digital medical imaging, intensive care, laboratories and pathology. It also comprises the development of support and assistance systems to medical decisions, the implementation of the support infrastructure and data processing centres. In addition to this, Indra will provide training and change management services to health professionals.
The company is planning to set up a subsidiary in the country for the project and attend to the emerging health and IT markets in the area. The team will consist of managers and consultants from Spain with experience in the implementation of national healthcare systems as well as IT professionals from Bahrain’s university environment. The support will be provided from Indra’s Spanish Software Labs network.
Bahrain’s Ministry of Health manages from the Salamaniya Medical Complex- the central hospital of the country-and other six peripheral hospitals and 26 health centres, the healthcare services to the 1,200.000 inhabitants, including expatriates. The Ministry of Defense currently runs the Bahrain Defense Force Hospital and will inaugurate this year the King Hamad Hospital which will use the most advanced health technologies.
The Kingdom of Bahrain is considered one of the leading countries in the implementation of cutting edge information technologies for the modernisation of infrastructures. It holds the third position in Asia in e-Government, thirteenth worldwide and the tenth among free market economy countries.
The project is a strong boost to the company’s leadership in digital health in Spain and to its expansion in the area, where it has been awarded significant contracts in the air traffic management, energy and utilities segments. In addition to the strength of the economies of the Gulf countries, they are immersed in an intensive process of infrastructure modernisation. These circumstances make this area a priority for Indra with respect to the company’s significant internationalisation process.
Leadership in digital health
Nowadays, over 32 million people in more than four continents benefit from Indra’s solutions and systems for the health sector. The company’s solutions are in use by more than 100,000 professionals in over 5,600 health centres and hospitals making 500,000 daily medical appointments possible.
Indra’s technologies and knowledge applied to health are based on its health solutions portfolio which specialises in Telemedicine, digital Imaging, electronic prescription or electronic medical records, among others. This platform is the fruit of cumulative experience in the development of projects for private and public sectors, at both national and international levels.
Regarding the electronic medical records we can mention Diraya, the system which facilitated the implementation of digital health records in Andalusia; IANUS, for the Servizo Galego de Saúde (SERGAS) or Abucasis, for the Valencia community. The company also leads the implementation of the electronic prescription in Spain, where besides the project currently under way in Asturias, it has successfully implemented it in Aragon, Cantabria, Madrid, Murcia, Valencia, Galicia, the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. On the other hand, the IT company is technology partner of SESCAM in the development of the YKONOS project, the digital medical imaging system of Castilla-La Mancha.
Indra holds a significant position in the implementation and management of multichannel information services which use internet, mobile technology and access points to the health care services in Andalusia, Madrid and Valencia.
Indra is the premier Information Technology company in Spain and a leading IT multinational in Europe and Latin America. It is ranked as the second European company in its sector according to investment in R&D with nearly € 500 M during the last three years. In 2009 revenues reached € 2,513 M of which a 40% came from the international market. The company employs more than 31,000 professionals and has clients in more than 110 countries.