Vietnam effectively using electronic health record in Covid-19 fight

As the latest Covid-19 outbreak becomes more complicated in Vietnam, an formal application for smart devices developed by the Health Ministry to register for and check the vaccination procedure, to declare health status and make doctor appointments has attracted much attention from the public because of its convenience.

Tran Thi Thanh Trang from Binh Chanh District of Ho Chi Minh City is instructing her family members to use the app ‘So Suc Khoe Dien Tu’ on a smart phone. (Photo: SGGP)


Introduced since this July, the app named ‘So Suc Khoe Dien Tu’ (in short SSKDT), which is considered an electronic health record, has become one of the top-downloaded apps for both Android and iOS operation systems in Vietnam.

Nguyen Truong Nam, Deputy Head of the Electronic Health Administration under the Health Ministry, shared that this app helps citizens to manage their own popular medical information, including their medical history, everyday health declaration, and Covid-19 vaccination.

These data are stored, updated, and linked directly to the individual medical record system of the Health Ministry so that healthcare officials can access when in need. Meanwhile, users can monitor their current health status and timely come to hospital if necessary via the function of ‘Finding a Doctor’ or ‘Finding a Clinic’.

Particularly, during the Covid-19 pandemic, users can register for vaccination, check their vaccination history, obtain an electronic vaccination certificate, and perform health declaration each day conveniently.

After entering precise personal information as required in the vaccination registration form, people should want for a confirmation via their registered phone number. Their information is now transferred to the corresponding local area for screening and verification. They are then put into the waiting list, and when vaccine is available, they will receive an appointment message stating clearly the date and location for the vaccination.

“This app makes vaccination registration safer for citizens while information is updated quicker and more correctly since people do not need to crowd into a vaccination site and might get infected on the way”, said Deputy Head Nam.

The QR code for vaccination certificate appears on the white background if the user has not been injected yet, and turns yellow or green for one or two doses respectively. This code is also used in the future in the user’s vaccine passport.

Nguyen Xuan H from Cau Giay District in Hanoi happily shared that it is so convenient to obtain an electronic certificate via the app since he no longer fears of the certificate being lost or accidentally destroyed like the soft copy version.

Le Tien L, a truck driver, stated that when using this app to earn a QR code for health declaration, it takes him less time and effort, which is very satisfying.

Being a newly developed product, the app still has certain issues. It might becomes unstable in certain times, and the electronic vaccination certificate sometimes cannot be accessed or contains wrong information. The function ‘Finding a Clinic’ does not display all approved hospitals and clinics in the country.

Aware of these problems, the app’s developers are cooperating with corresponding functional agencies to deliver detailed user manual, address negative matters so that the app is truly useful to all people.

Since the vaccination data quantity is quite large, it might take some time for the app to fully collect, adjust, and update information sent from vaccination sites for all citizens.

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