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Tag: Ministry of Health

  • New Zealand’s Ministry of Health approves MS cloud services

    New Zealand’s Ministry of Health approves MS cloud services

    New Zealand’s Ministry of Health has officially approved the use of cloud services for advancing the country’s electronic health service capabilities.

    Specifically, Microsoft’s core cloud services Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics CRM Online have been deemed to meet the ministry’s requirements for storage of personal health information.

    Barrie Sheers, Managing Director for Microsoft New Zealand, said the government’s decision to use Microsoft’s Trusted Public Cloud services will be transformative for the eHealth agenda in New Zealand.

    “New Zealand’s health tech industry is today worth $1.3 billion to the local economy, and our country significantly punches above its weight on the international stage with health tech innovation,” he said.

    “With leading exporters like Orion Health and more than a hundred other smaller independent software vendors, the health tech sector in New Zealand is one that continues to grow and provide a burgeoning opportunity for export to the fast growing global health market.”

    With the advent of personalized medicine, genomics, intelligent sensors, advanced diagnostics and laboratory tests, data usage by health organizations will also increase as the sector builds ever more advanced models of the human body, according to Gabe Rijpma, senior director of health and social services Asia at Microsoft.

    “Being able to process all this data, store it, analyze it and make intelligent predictions on the results will usher in a new era of healthcare that will radically transform the way care is both diagnosed and delivered,” he said.

    Rijpma who is based at Microsoft NZ’s Christchurch office, said the local health tech sector has already been rapidly adopting the public cloud to develop futuristic solutions, but they have not been able to sell those solutions in international markets until now.

    “Now the local health tech sector will be able to use New Zealand as a fertile ground for new innovation and also deliver their world firsts here, too,” he added.

  • Tobacco products to be taken off shop displays from 2017

    Tobacco products to be taken off shop displays from 2017

    From 2017, retailers of tobacco products will not be allowed to display them in their shops, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced on Wednesday (Dec 9).

    The ministry said it will move to ban stores from displaying such products after amendments to the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act are tabled in Parliament.

    Retailers may choose to use existing storage units, modify them or install new storage units that are permanent, self-closing and opaque. Retailers could choose to use vertical blinds, or even a curtain, among others. They are to comply with the new requirements, whereby tobacco products need to be out of sight from the public at all times.

    Exceptions will be made in the process of restocking the display unit or during a sales transaction, unless the staff carrying out these actions stops to do something else.

    MOH said it is prepared to allow a text-only price list in a standard format, to facilitate transactions and ensure a level playing field while preventing misuse as a form of advertisement.

    It added that it will allow storage units to be in the same colour as the decor or interior walls of the outlet, as long as the colour does not draw specific attention to storage units.

    A brochure, published by the Health Promotion Board in the four national languages, will be distributed to retailers in the coming months, detailing the dos and don’ts of storing and selling tobacco products.

    Senior Minister of State for Health Amy Khor said on Wednesday that authorities will work with retailers to help them comply with the new legal guidelines.

    “Even as we are implementing this to protect non-smokers – particularly our young – from the promotional effect of point-of-sale displays and to create a better environment for smokers who are trying to quit, we also want to work with tobacco retailers to try and help them reduce the inconveniences caused to businesses,” Dr Khor said.

    2014 STUDY SUPPORTS MOVE TO REMOVE TOBACCO PRODUCTS FROM SHOP DISPLAYS

    In response to media queries, MOH said findings in a 2014 local study conducted among 1,300 smoking and non-smoking respondents aged 18 to 69 supported this move.

    The study found 20 per cent of non-smokers reported that point-of-sale displays of tobacco products aroused curiosity in smoking, while 44 per cent of smokers considered point-of-sale displays of tobacco products attractive.

    Additionally, 46 per cent of smokers aged 18 to 29 bought tobacco products on seeing point-of-sale displays of such products, while 50 per cent of smokers in the same age group were tempted to smoke on seeing point-of-sale displays of tobacco products, MOH said.

    “Hence, not displaying tobacco products can reduce the curiosity to smoke, and reduce spontaneous purchases of such products,” said MOH.

    BANNING POINT-OF-SALE DISPLAYS OVERSEAS HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL

    MOH also pointed to research that showed that banning point-of-sale tobacco displays overseas has positive effects.

    Daily smoking rates in Iceland decreased from 28.1 per cent in 1996 to 19.3 per cent in 2006 after a point-of-sale display ban on tobacco products was introduced in 2001, according to a report by Tobacconomics.

    Additionally, research from Australia showed that there was a “significant decline” in reported exposure to tobacco displays when the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Western Australia implemented the ban. A total of 1.1 per cent of smokers noticed tobacco displays in Western Australia, compared to 27.1 per cent before the ban, researchers said.

    RETAILERS QUESTION EFFECTIVENESS OF MOVE

    Retailers Channel NewsAsia spoke to said the ban would not have too great an impact on business, but they questioned its effectiveness in getting people to quit.

    “Should a young person spot these cigarette cabinets, they would still be able to ask for and buy them. It doesn’t matter how you cover it,” said Mr Leong Kuo Tong, owner of Leong Brothers Departmental Store.

    “Some customers will still insist on buying cigarettes. Even if they are hidden, they will ask us (for them),” said Mr Rajamohamed Jawahar Hussain, co-owner of Fairprice General Store.

    MOH said it would continue to work with retailers to fine-tune the specific details of the measures.