From October 1, 2023, students' absences for medical reasons will be excused electronically. This change affects all students from grades I to XII. The electronic medical note is the first step in integrating the central systems in healthcare and education. The additional functionality, developed by Information Services, is part of the implementation of the third phase of the National Health Information System (NHIS) and the upgrade of the Electronic Certificates module.
The process of issuing an electronic medical note was presented by the Minister of Electronic Governance Alexander Yolovski, the Minister of Health Prof. Hristo Hinkov, the Minister of Education Prof. Galin Tsokov, the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Bulgarian Medical Association - Dr. Ivan Madzharov and Dr. Nikolay Branzalov, as well as Ivaylo Stoychev - Project Manager at Information Services. "The implementation of the electronic note is a vivid example of what can be achieved quickly when there is a clear goal," noted Minister Yolovski.
The electronic medical note will be issued after an examination by a medical professional – a general practitioner, medical specialists from hospital, outpatient, and dental care. Each issued note will have a National Reference Number (NRN), which will be generated automatically after registering the data from the physical examination, contributing to the reduction of medical notes with false content, stated the Minister of Health.
With the electronic signature of the medical professional who issued the note, the information will be sent to the National Health Information System (NHIS). The registered data in NHIS - the National Reference Number (NRN) of the examination, information about the child's health status, period of absence, etc., will be automatically provided to the Ministry of Education and Science (MES) in real-time. Once the note is received in the central system of MES, it is sent to the respective school's electronic book reports, and the absences are excused. "Eliminating the paper carrier will give us statistics on how many students do not attend school and for what medical reasons. This way, diseases and epidemics in the respective regions and schools can be easily analyzed and tracked," said Prof. Hinkov.
The information that reaches the schools is solely for excusing absences. Schools will not have specific medical information or other personal information that is not necessary for MES. This ensures the confidentiality and protection of medical and personal data.
"Electronic medical notes will reduce the work of the class teacher by 2 to 3 hours per month or more than twenty-four hours per year. In other words, this relief will save teachers an average of 3 full working days per year, which they can dedicate to working with students instead of administrative activities," said Prof. Galin Tsokov. According to him, over 270,000 students were absent from school for valid reasons last school year, with an average of 50 absences per student. "This is not a small number, and the subsequent analysis will be very important - how the electronic medical note will affect these trends, because frequent absence from school is one of the risk factors for permanent dropout from the education system," explained the Minister of Education and Science.
The electronic medical note eliminates the possibility of abuse and the issuance of fake notes. The need for the doctor to print the note is eliminated, saving a significant amount of paper. The obligation of parents to bring a paper note to school, as well as the need for schools to store them in folders, is also eliminated.