The creator of the popular cloud-based hospital management system, Peth Yoeung, is scheduled to launch a health app and card next week.

First Womentech Asia (FWTA) has announced that it will expand its offer in the healthcare sector with the introduction of an app and card to help patients manage health-related information.

FWTA business operations adviser Bin Socheat says the products will free patients from the need to keep physical records. The e-Health Yoeung app allows users to store and manage the information in their smartphones.

“Following the success of Peth Yoeung we spent more than a year researching features that meet people’s needs and improve the national healthcare system,” he says.

“In the second week of March, we will officially launch the e-Health Yoeung app and card at Preah Ang Duong Hospital in Phnom Penh,” Socheat says.

He describes e-Health Yoeung as a “super app” in the management of one’s health and well-being.

“e-Health Yoeung matches patients with skilled doctors and allows them to access their medical records,” he says.

“Patients also receive notifications when their next doctor’s appointment is coming up. Moreover, the app uses the patients’ data to give them health tips and advice.

“On top of that, patients can use the app to learn more about how to be healthy, including what foods are the most nutritious and what you can do to lead a healthier life,” he says.

Those without a smartphone can take advantage of the e-Health Yoeung card, which also stores the owner’s medical history.

“Both the card and the app not only benefit the user. They eliminate the need to keep written records. At hospitals equipped with Peth Yoeung, the new app and card enable doctors to access patients’ medical records quickly,” he says.

The e-Health Yoeung app also allows the user to pay medical bills using a credit card, he adds.

E-Health Yoeung will be used in hospitals and clinics that already use Peth Yoeung, including some of the nation’s biggest – Preah Ang Duong Hospital, National Pediatric Hospital, Cambodia-China Friendship Hospital and Preah Kossamak Hospital.

He noted that Peth Yoeung is used in more than 120 public and private hospitals and clinics in 12 provinces and Phnom Penh. Including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, lab technicians and administrative staff, the system has over 5,000 active users.

“We have helped improved the life and health of nearly 500,000 Cambodians,” he tells The Post.

Building innovative products like Peth Yoeung and e-Health Yoeung does not come without challenges.

“One of the biggest problems was making sure we use the latest technology available so that the app doesn’t become obsolete in a few years,” he says.

Another challenge was the lack of support from the general public. “Cambodians don’t generally value local tech. They tend to think that technology cannot be developed by locals, and that only foreigners can do it. It can be very disheartening at times.”

But FWTA is challenging this mindset. The team behind Peth Yoeung and e-Health Yoeung is 100 per cent Cambodian. Led by Pong Limsan (Socheat’s wife), FWTA is composed of Cambodian engineers, developers, coders and designers, and most of them are women.

Limsan has more than 10 years of experience in the field, working with the Asian Development Bank and the Ministry of Health. The 40-year-old graduated with a Master of Science in Information Technology and Computer Science from the Royal University of Phnom Penh and was recently a recipient of the Women in Tech Awards.

Limsan and Socheat decided to create Peth Yoeung after a frustrating experience taking their children to a local hospital, where the staff took a long time to retrieve the medical records.

Peth Yoeung has won a national social start-up competition and received an award from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications last year.

“We have to work hard to educate consumers and change their perceptions and habits. If they can adopt new technologies, the market for these products that we have worked so hard to develop will expand.”

First Womentech Asia is located at #15D, Street 3 (corner with Street 230), Teok Laak III, Tuol Kork, Phnom Penh. For more information, visit their website www.firstwomentechasia.com.