Along with the prosperous economic development and aging population in Hong Kong, the demand for quality healthcare services is increasing dramatically. Health informatics, a combination of information technology and healthcare that enables more efficient and comprehensive ways of managing health information for clinical purposes, will play a crucial role in our society as well as create great career opportunities for IT graduates in Hong Kong in the near future. In order to cater for the growing needs of premium medical services, HKSAR government has been implementing a medical reform in the past few years. "Subject to the passage of the Bill within the legislative session, we aim to commence operation of the eHealth Record Sharing System by the end of 2014 at the earliest, so as to enhance the continuity and efficiency of healthcare services provided by the public and private sectors", a government spokesman said.
Being one of the vanguards of technology development in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited (“Cyberport”) launched the eHealth Record (eHR) Internship Pilot Programme in 2012-2013 for the Hospital Authority. Under the programme, 10 intern positions from 6 companies were created, in which a monthly subsidy of maximum HK$4,000 was provided for each intern position as an incentive to help employers to attract and retain talents. The pilot programme lasted for 6 months. But organisers and employers saw the needs to launch a full year programme in order to bring up more talents in the healthcare informatics field.
In view of the passage of the Bill within the legislative session, a territory- wide electronic health record sharing system will probably be implemented later this year. In response to this, Cyberport launched the eHealth Record Internship Programme 2014 in April in which the duration is extended to 12 months with the funding of the Hospital Authority. The aim of the programme is to nurture more ICT talents for health informatics industry as well as to enhance its capacity in Hong Kong. 15 career opportunities from either healthcare providers or IT vendors supporting healthcare providers are now open for job seekers who hold a post-secondary qualification in related studies.
Similar to the pilot programme, this expanded programme not only includes practical work experiences and on-the-job trainings in which interns can enhance their capability and broaden their perspectives towards health informatics, but also provides interns with professional training skills. The programme offers excellent opportunities for students to enter the healthcare industry, which even may not be their primitive field.
The Altrinion Group Limited ( “Altrinion”), a pioneer in this industry, participated in the pilot programme last year and joined again this year. Back to 2010, Altrinion collaborated with a government-owned hospital in providing advanced 3D virtualization and visualization technology for interventional cardiology, which is "first of its kind" at that time. During their participation in the pilot programme, they found it really helpful in strengthening their knowledge towards manpower resources as well as talent recruitment. With the subsidy provided by the programme, more resources can be allocated to R&D aspect. The only limitation of the programme in 2012 was its duration. But now we are happy to see the full launch of the programme with a longer period of time. More importantly, the programme helps to equip our interning employees with proper industrial and professional training and groom them into health informatics professionals.
All in all, the eHR Internship Programme has raised the awareness of healthcare informatics in the ICT industry and labour market. We expect to see more young talents joining this growing industry.” said Clifford Tse, Director of Research & Development of Altrinion.
Health informatics is for sure a growing market with increasing demand for human-capital. It is full of business opportunities and will continue to gain its attention in Hong Kong. There should be no hesitation in joining Altrinion or any other organization of this kind. Explore these opportunities from the participating employers of the eHR Internship Programme 2014 at http://www.classifiedpost.com/hk/SearchJobs?keyword=eHR&sopt=3&c=1.
Summary of Cyberport eHealth Record Internship Programme 2014:
1. 12 months internship training programme;
2. Trained to be a pioneer of healthcare IT and healthcare application development;
3. Gain knowledge in health informatics via professional and systematic training;
4. Get practical experiences and enter the exciting and growing field of healthcare IT and informatics;
5. Access to the latest development progress of eHR and get in pace with the latest development of eHR in Hong kong.
Check out the details of the enrollment for job seekers: http://www.classifiedpost.com/hk/SearchJobs?keyword=eHR&sopt=3&c=1
Source: Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited
(Advertorial)
