Do Asian hospital have the cure for the millennium bug?
By Rita A. Widiadana
SINGAPORE (JP): Fast forward to 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 31, 1999, as a patient at Singapore's Gleneagles Hospital lies in critical condition after a heart attack.
It is a routine occurrence at hospitals around the world. But the difference is the ominous date, which health workers are concerned will spark the malfunctioning of high-tech medical devices as computers fail to recognize the change from 1999 to 2000.
It is of particular concern because Asian hospitals have not been forthcoming about what they are doing to head off the threat, known as the Year 2000 (Y2K) bug.
Gleneagles Hospital is dark and hot because of electricity and computer failures. Four nurses speed to the patient's darkened room on the second floor of the hospital, pushing a trolley laden down with medical equipment.
Using only emergency lights, two doctors swiftly perform artificial respiration and all necessary emergency aid to treat the patient.
Plunged into an unfamiliar and stressful situation, the nurses and doctors are tense but try their best to remain calm.
The patient begins moving and slowly starts to breathe as her eyes open. She has successfully passed a crucial stage.
"Uh, this patient is so lucky," they sigh in unison.
The problems are not over yet. Several doctors run to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where a four-day-old premature baby is battling for life. In an adjacent room, an old man is being treated for kidney failure.
Doctors are relieved to see that all the important medical equipment continues to work properly thanks to the well-prepared backup generator.
The operating room, where a team of gynecologists is expecting a millennium baby, is also in perfect condition.
"Everything is under control," Gleneagles' general manager Dr. Dominic Err said confidently to close the hospital's Year 2000 Contingency Simulation Exercise held from 11 p.m. to midnight on Nov. 13.
The exercise was aimed at checking the readiness of the hospital's staff to handle the failure of its computer and medical equipment if Y2K struck.
Err said the exercise was vital for all hospitals to ensure their patients would continue to receive optimum care despite any technological malfunctions.
"In the West, everybody is concerned over the potential Y2K threats that will disturb their personal and business activities," he said.
Y2K conscious
Experts worry that an old method of recording dates on software and chips controlling electronic systems could cause computer mayhem when clocks strike midnight at the end of this year.
The theory is that dates recorded in two digits, like 89 or 97, will trip over the two zeros in 2000 and cause computers to crash and electronic appliances to seize up.
People in Asia are less Y2K conscious than their contemporaries in the U.S. and Europe, and there has only been a trickle of information in some countries.
International pundits have predicted computer failures in defense, banking, transportation, health systems and businesses that are heavily reliant on high-tech equipment which is not Y2K compliant.
"You can choose to travel or not because of possible problems in airline systems. You can go partying or just spend New Year's quietly but, for certain, you may not have much choice about going to a hospital if you fall ill over the New Year," said Err.
He urged governments and the private sector in Asia to focus their attention on the health system, which is considered the most crucial of the least-prepared sectors.
In Indonesia, only a few hospitals are certified Y2K ready, including state-owned Cipto Mangunkusumo, Pondok Indah and Mintohardjo Hospital, all in Jakarta.
It is estimated that at least one hospital in each of Indonesia's 26 provinces is Y2K compliant.
Indonesia is not alone in Asia in lagging behind in educating the population about the bug. In Bangladesh, people receive very little information on its possible risk.
"Most health care systems in Bangladesh are done manually, therefore there will only be some minor problems occur during the changeover to the year 2000," explained Shahida Alam, chief news editor of Bangladesh Television.
Shahida said the specter of Y2K was beyond the comprehension of most Bangladeshis.
"How can they think of such problems? In daily life, three women and their three newborn babies could share one hospital bed," said Shahida.
Singapore is probably one of the most Y2K ready of Asian countries. The Parkway Group Healthcare, for instance, set up a Y2K task force in 1997.
The team oversees the Y2K preparations for all three hospitals under the company, one of which is Gleneagles Hospital. The other two hospitals -- East Shore Hospital and Mount Elizabeth -- have already completed their testing of their contingency plans.
The task force's duties includes the examination of the inventory of equipment and materials in the hospital to ensure that all existing equipment and machines are Y2K compliant.
Since 1997, the team has been working intensively to implement a new-enterprise-wide patient information and billing system (SAP), which has been certified Y2K compliant and fully implemented and tested since last September.