Dear Editor,
I write in response to your article published on Sunday, January, 18, 2025, on the rollout of the Electronic Health Records pilot at the Festival City Polyclinic.
The article places undue emphasis on a brief interruption during the presentation, portraying it as a system failure. This is misleading.
The interruption was short, did not affect the Electronic Health Records system itself, and was caused by an issue with the HDMI cable connected to the television being used for the presentation.
The EHR platform continued to function as intended.
It is, therefore, disappointing that the journalist involved did not take the time to seek clarification from any of the officials present, or from me, regarding the cause of the interruption before drawing conclusions.
A simple question would have confirmed that the issue was audiovisual equipment-related, not a failure of the digital health system being demonstrated.
Public trust in digital transformation initiatives is important, particularly in healthcare.
Editor’s note: The interruption was not given undue emphasis in the news item neither did it portray it as a system failure. The report said “…the live demonstration at the Festival City Polyclinic was repeatedly disrupted by technical glitches, a scrambling screen and prolonged pauses. The cause of the malfunction was unclear, whether stemming from internet connectivity, the television equipment or the system itself”. The interruption was reported on precisely because as the author of the letter states: “Public trust in digital transformation initiatives is important…”