KUALA LUMPUR: Patients will soon be able to decide what medical information they share with doctors across both public and private healthcare facilities through the MySejahtera app, as the Health Ministry moves to create a more connected digital health ecosystem.
The ministry’s Digital Health Department director Dr Mahesh Appannan said testing is currently underway to enable seamless sharing of patient records between government and private healthcare providers, a feature expected to be rolled out in the coming months.
At present, patient records can only be shared within government healthcare facilities.
“The goal is to empower patients in sharing their own medical records.
“Instead of answering the same questions at every visit, patients can simply share their medical history, allowing doctors to focus on delivering quality care,” he said during a forum on Digital Leadership as a Leadership Capability yesterday.
Dr Mahesh said the system is designed to improve patient outcomes by giving healthcare providers a more complete view of a patient’s medical history, reducing duplication of tests, lowering costs and speeding up consultations, all with the patient’s consent.
He said the new feature will also automatically generate a summary of each clinic visit and send it to patients as a PDF file through the MySejahtera app.
“For example, after a consultation at a government clinic, the full visit details will be compiled and sent directly to the patient,” he added.
Dr Mahesh emphasised that digital health should become a core competency of healthcare professionals.
“It is no longer optional if you want to work in modern healthcare.”
Separately, Dr Mahesh said a radiology interoperability initiative is being piloted at three Klang Valley hospitals, allowing doctors to access imaging records digitally instead of relying on compact discs.
“The system reduces duplication, saves costs and gives patients easier access to their scans.”
The initiative, he said, will be expanded to 10 hospitals and selected private healthcare facilities this year.
He added that all government primary healthcare facilities are expected to adopt electronic medical records by early 2027.
“There will no longer be handwritten patient records. Everything will be entered digitally,” he said.
Meanwhile, Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia president Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh said digitalisation should help reduce the burden on healthcare workers rather than become another source of stress, especially amid staffing shortages and burnout.
He noted that while almost all private hospitals have adopted digital platforms, interoperability remains a major challenge because many facilities operate on different systems.
“Workforce stress is inevitable, and technology must be used to ease rather than add to that burden.”
Dr Kuljit said his hospital has already adopted artificial intelligence (AI) to record and structure clinical notes during consultations.
He added that AI is also being used to improve financial management, particularly in billing and insurance submissions.
“The technology helps generate accurate bill estimates, identify leakages and wastage, and give hospitals a clearer picture of costs and charges.”
However, Dr Kuljit added that clinical judgment must remain paramount.
“Technology should work for us, not the other way around.”
