The Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabic, said today that the complete digitalization of health care is one of the key priorities of the Government of Serbia and pointed out that everything that has been done in the last five years in the digital transformation of public administration and education system paid off during the coronavirus pandemic.
Brnabic participated in the leading world summit “GovTech Summit”, which gathers the biggest leaders in the field of digital innovations in the public sector, and spoke about the results that Serbia has achieved in the field of digital transformation that began in 2016.
– Everything we did during 2016 and 2017 in digitalization of administration and education reform really paid off during the Covid crisis, we were almost prepared for a pandemic – said Brnabic who was interviewed by Daniel Korski, former adviser to the British Prime Minister who now leads the investment the Public Fund, which supports startups dealing with innovation in public administration.
Speaking about the digitalization of education in Serbia, the Prime Minister stated that the introduction of digital textbooks and classrooms began in 2018 and that Serbia was ready when online classes in schools were introduced in March last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
– I think that we are one of the few countries in which students did not lose a single class during the pandemic – said Brnabic.
Emphasizing the importance of digital technologies, she reminded that the Office for IT and eGovernment had the capacity to quickly develop software and a system for registering citizens for vaccination, as well as that citizens understood the benefits of the digitalization process.
– I can check on the phone how many people received the first dose, how many the second, how many applied for a booster dose, all the statistics, that is an amazing achievement in the digitalization of public administration in the last five years – stated Brnabic.
The Prime Minister pointed out that, if she could predict what kind of pandemic the world would face, digitalization of health would be a priority, but as Prime Minister she decided that it should be education because she believed that it was the basis for future competencies and that the process should start from primary schools.
– It was necessary to network all schools on the Internet, to introduce digital classrooms, textbooks. But we could not do everything at the same time, she said, pointing out that Serbia started digitalizing health care in the second half of 2019, but that the pandemic slowed down that process. If we had done this earlier, I think we could have managed the pandemic differently, we would have been able to make decisions based on much more relevant data and information. No country in Europe has a completely digitalized system in health care, but that is our priority now – the Prime Minister stated.
Speaking about the consequences of the Covid pandemic, the Prime Minister mentioned that there are positive things in that plague, and that is that citizens now understand the importance of eGovernment and digitalization.
– For the first time, citizens saw the meaning of what we have been doing since 2016, especially on the example of the vaccination process. At the same time, healthcare employees saw and understood the importance of digitalization in that area – said Brnabic.
She added that there are still those who are afraid of digitalization because they are afraid that they will lose their jobs, emphasizing that her view is completely different.
– I think that people will keep their jobs, but that this process will make their work more interesting, and that, using digital technologies, they will have much more time to be more creative and innovative in their work – she pointed out.
The Prime Minister added that the National Academy of Public Administration will organize training for professional development of employees in public administration, at the national and local level, in December.
– It is important that you are up to date with technological and innovative changes, and I, as Prime Minister, should also learn how to better use technologies in decision-making – she pointed out.
Brnabic pointed out that a lot has been done since the Government of Serbia started the transformation of the Serbian economy, from an economy based on labor-intensive jobs and investments, to an economy based on innovations and knowledge, stating that capacities in innovation infrastructure, construction of scientific and technological parks and startup centers.
The next big challenges are artificial intelligence, biotechnology and biomedicine, Brnabic said, noting the importance of the “Biofor” project, which will unite Serbia’s best capacities in the fields of biomedicine, biotechnology, bioinformatics and biodiversity, the Serbian government’s website reported, eKapija reports.
