State Minister for Health announces technology-based innovation competition in the health sector

State Minister for Health Dr M A Muhith has announced a national-level technology-based innovation (hackathon) competition aimed at the digital transformation of the country's healthcare, creating an integrated repository of patients' health data and implementing the 'e-health card'. He presented the details of the program at a press briefing organized in partnership with the World Health Organization at a hotel in the capital on Sunday (18 October).

In this competition, young innovators will get the opportunity to work with new technology and digital services to solve problems in the health sector. Invest Bangladesh Chairman Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun and representatives of various local and foreign organizations were present at the event.

Highlighting the need to integrate the digital initiatives in the health sector, Dr M A Muhith said that if various initiatives are taken in isolation, they remain confined within separate systems, and later it becomes difficult to coordinate among those systems. That is why the competition is being organized with the goal that the various systems of digital healthcare can work connected to one another, he said.

The state minister said there is a plan to build an integrated repository with the health data of the country's nearly 200 million people. When a citizen visits a doctor, buys medicine or has health tests done at a laboratory, their treatment-related information could be added to it. In his view, this repository can play an important role in health research.

However, he emphasized ensuring the country's sovereignty, personal privacy and data security in the use and preservation of health data. In his view, there is scope to increase the use of modern technology, including artificial intelligence, by utilizing health data, but data protection must be ensured in this field.

For those interested in taking part in the competition, the registration process will remain open for the next one month. Young innovators from different parts of the country will be able to participate with their technology-based ideas to solve healthcare problems.

After registration and screening, a three-day bootcamp will be organized in the capital, Dhaka, with the selected teams. There, local and international technology experts will give the participants advice and guidance. Through this, an attempt will be made to turn the initial ideas into implementable and effective digital solutions.

The state minister said this initiative has been taken so that the innovative thinking of the young does not get lost. Through this open competition, young people from different regions of the country will get the opportunity to present their ideas.

At the event, Invest Bangladesh Chairman Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun said it is possible to create equal opportunity for all through an open competition. Through this, the innovative idea of a young person from a remote area outside Dhaka will also get the opportunity to reach the highest levels of the government.

He said the size of the country's healthcare market is approximately 14 billion dollars. However, in the absence of reliable data, it is difficult to fully evaluate the potential of this sector. He also commented that if the digital transformation of the health sector and a reliable repository can be created, the opportunity to attract local and foreign investment will increase.

Also speaking at the event were the World Health Organization's representative in Bangladesh Dr Rajesh Narwal, Director General of the Directorate of Nursing and Midwifery Dil Afroza, head of UNICEF's health section Dr Malalay Ahmadzai, founder and chairman of ADN Telecom Limited Asif Mahmud, director of the Bangladesh Medical Research Council Dr Kazi Saifuddin Bennur and senior operations officer of the World Bank Iffat Mahmud.

After registration ends, young innovators will now keep their eyes on which ideas are selected for implementation after passing the screening and bootcamp stages. How far this plan for an integrated health data repository and e-health card advances will become clear in the coming steps.