Ministry of Health opens MOH Intelligence Hub at EVYD Campus

The MOH Intelligence Hub is a physical symbol of the ministry’s strategic vision and forward planning. It evinces MOH’s courage to embrace and adopt new technologies, as part of its commitment to demonstrate Brunei’s leadership in digital health transformation. This is but the latest initiative to improve Bruneians’ health. The ministry will continue to proactively leverage technology to further propel the world-leading digital optimisation of Brunei’s healthcare ecosystem.

The Epidemic Intelligence and Response Unit Surveillance Centre leverages on a recently developed automated communicable disease surveillance system linked with clinical and laboratory data from Bru-HIMS to track and monitor the emergence and spread of over 50 infectious diseases in real-time.

The opening of the Hub was officiated by Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohammad Isham bin Haji Jaafar, Minister of Health; and Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II.

Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohammad Isham bin Haji Jaafar said: “Our decision to co-locate the MOH Intelligence Hub in EVYD Campus demonstrates the strategic relationship among healthcare technology, data analytics, research and policy planning. It will function as a sandbox for collaboration, knowledge generation and practice transformation. The Hub will provide a co-working space for different teams dealing with data and intelligence. Facilitating these enhanced interactions all in one location will provide Brunei with more value-added insights to craft data-driven decisions around population health with greater confidence.”

Mr Chua Ming Jie, CEO of EVYD Technology, said: “We are proud to have partnered MOH from the start of the pandemic in 2020 – beginning with co-developing BruHealth as a pandemic management tool, and now evolving it to become a national health app. Brunei also leverages our EVYDENCE data operating platform to integrate information from various data sources and process it into a common data model, enabling better health outcomes. The data from EVYDENCE is also used to power a whole range of digital health solutions for Bruneians.”

“We are pleased to welcome the Ministry of Health to open its Intelligence Hub at our global campus in Brunei today. The co-location of the Hub in the EYVD Campus symbolises the symbiotic relationship between MOH and EVYD Technology – where we provide actionable data for meaningful impact in terms of policy-making and clinical outcomes, and MOH is able to leverage this data to empower the digital transformation of Brunei’s healthcare system. The opening of this Hub is the latest milestone in our relationship, and we look forward to growing our partnership with the ministry further in our shared mission to improve Bruneians’ health.”

Cross-border collaboration to strengthen health systems

At the opening, MOH and EVYD Technology also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National University of Singapore Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health today as a cross-border collaboration to strengthen health systems.

This will include:

• Building the research ecosystem and infrastructure to conduct research relevant to policy-making;
• Organizing and participating in joint academic and scientific activities; and
• Identifying opportunities for knowledge transfer, capability building and joint research and development (R&D) in areas of mutual interest.

Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II, who is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of EVYD Technology, said: “Given the increasingly complex health challenges in a borderless world today, there is much value that we can realise by fostering greater cross-border collaborations to collectively improve our public health responses. Through this regional collaboration, we aim to strengthen the healthcare systems in Brunei and Singapore, and will be happy to share our key initiatives and learnings with the rest of our ASEAN member countries to improve public health across the region.”

The MOU will be effective for two years initially, and will renew automatically for successive periods of two years after each contract period unless terminated by any of the three organizations.

It was signed by Yang Mulia Dr Anie Haryani Abdul Rahman, Acting Deputy Permanent Secretary (Policy), MOH; Mr Chua Ming Jie; and Professor Teo Yik Ying, Dean, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore; and witnessed by Yang Mulia Haji Maswadi Haji Mohsin, Permanent Secretary, MOH; Yang Mulia Ahmad Jefri Abdul Rahman, Assistant Managing Director, Brunei Investment Agency; and His Excellency Heng Aik Yeow, Singapore High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam, respectively.

Conference to promote cross-border public health collaboration

As part of the three organizations’ commitment to improving cross-border public health collaboration, they are also part of the organizing committee behind the 2^nd ASEAN Digital Public Health Conference, which will take place in Brunei and online on 22 & 23 November 2022. The Conference will bring together ASEAN Ministers of Health and Finance, policymakers, health authorities, multi-disciplinary experts, and leaders from industry participants and non-governmental organizations to share experiences and engage in holistic discussions on the benefits, risks and challenges associated with the adoption of artificial intelligence and digital technologies in healthcare.

The Conference is hosted by the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Ministry of Health in Brunei, organized by EVYD Technology, the Brunei Investment Agency and the National University of Singapore Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, and supported by Temasek Foundation. More information is available at www.dphasean.org.