The Office for IT and eGovernment, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, is leading the effort to digitize healthcare in Serbia—one of the most challenging and significant projects undertaken by the government. While this initiative began during the current administration, it is expected to produce results in the next government’s term, according to Mihailo Jovanović, director of the “Health in Serbia Based on Innovations” panel at the 32nd Kopaonik Business Forum.
In line with recent amendments to the Law on Health Documentation, the Office is providing essential technical support to the Ministry of Health to establish the Integral Health Information System. This ambitious task is complicated by the presence of over 300 local health information systems in public institutions and more than 150 in private ones, Jovanović explained.
A major step in this project is the migration of these local health systems to the State Data Center in Kragujevac, ensuring that all data is stored securely in one location to improve the performance and security of the IT infrastructure. To date, 32 local systems have been successfully transferred, and it is expected that most of the systems will be migrated within the next 18 months.
This migration serves as a foundation for the creation of the eCarton system, a centralized registry that will house patients’ health and medical records. Thanks to this system, healthcare providers will have immediate and complete access to patient information, regardless of whether the care is provided by a public or private institution. Additionally, the Office is focusing on developing a data exchange system between eCarton and local information systems, utilizing a Service Data Bus for seamless integration.
Together with the Ministry of Health and the Republic Health Insurance Fund, the Office for IT and eGovernment is also working on introducing advanced services like eSickness and eInstructions. The introduction of the eSickness service, for example, will allow doctors to electronically submit medical certificates directly to employers, enabling timely notifications of employee sick leave. This digital solution will eliminate the need for paper documentation and reduce administrative burdens, providing employees with a more efficient process. Additionally, the system will allow for the electronic exchange of data between doctors, the Republic Health Insurance Fund, and employers for the processing of wage compensation during sick leave.
Mihailo Jovanović emphasized that these steps are a significant part of Serbia’s journey toward modernizing healthcare through technology, improving efficiency, and ultimately delivering better services to citizens.
