Introduction

 The technological transformation of healthcare is a global trend. Scientists and developers are creating new solutions to increase the availability, comfort and efficiency of medical services, and governments are implementing programmes to modernize healthcare. The world professional community is actively accumulating ideas and results of experiments, searching for the most effective approaches related to the use of innovations in medicine. The interest of companies in the real sector of the economy in this area relates to the huge potential of the market.

Since healthcare belongs to the social sphere, the main guidelines for the creator of an innovative product or service in this area are not only the economic, but also the medical and social effects of innovation. Thus, in relation to healthcare, innovation can be defined as the end result of innovative activity, introduced into the work of a medical organization and bringing a positive effect (medical, social or economic).

In training qualified and professionally mature personnel for the medical system, it is important, above all, to use innovative achievements, introduce innovative technology in the process of medical education and effectively use it in educational institutions. In practice, there is still no close link between the Republic’s specialized medical centres and their branches based on television medicine. Therefore, the introduction of innovative technologies in the work of medical professionals in the health sector is one of the most pressing issues today.

Based on a comprehensive study of medical, social and organizational problems of the activities of medical workers in modern socio-economic conditions, scientifically substantiate the introduction of innovative technology for organizing the work of medical personnel in a multidisciplinary hospital and, based on this, form skills to create expert systems technologies.

Medical advice systems have been established in countries with advanced medicine, but in our republic such a system is not yet available. Through the introduction of the Medical Adviser’s systems, a knowledge base is being developed in this area, thus providing a basis for addressing the issue of medical automation. This article presents for the first time the results of analysis of activity of medical personnel by studying the efficiency of working time use, poll of average medical workers and patients, proved the effectiveness of this innovative organizational form. The results of studying the process of continuous professional development of medical personnel theoretically substantiate the sequence of actions in the development of medical personnel in the context of medical organization. The conclusions and proposals put forward as a result of the study are of scientific and practical importance for determining the directions, forms and content of the continuous professional development of the personnel of a medical organization, which allow developing and scientifically substantiating proposals for the introduction of innovative technology for organizing the work of medical personnel in a multidisciplinary hospital. The data obtained can be used to optimize the work of medical workers in inpatient healthcare centres at the level of institutions, regional and republican levels. The proposed measures will increase the productivity of medical personnel, improve the professional characteristics and living conditions of medical workers, increase job satisfaction, and, consequently, improve the quality of medical care, which will affect patient satisfaction with the quality of inpatient care provided to them. This is necessary to create a knowledge base in this area. The knowledge base is usually created by leading experts in the field and is based on their advice, which allows in many ways to create an excellent knowledge base that can be used not only by ordinary users but also by young professionals in the field. As a result of its continuous development, it is possible to create an expert system in this field, but expert systems in the field of medicine on a global scale do not exist.

Main part

 The introduction of innovative technologies will make it possible to create a more efficient healthcare system, save time and money, improve the quality of medical services provided, improve the level of public health, reduce mortality, and increase life expectancy in our country.

The National Digital Health Action Plan correlates with the policy and legal documents of the Republic of Uzbekistan. It allows the responsible departments of Uzbekistan to link all digital health activities with specific digital transformation measures.

The creation of a truly modern healthcare system involves improving the quality and accessibility of medical care, will make it possible to detect diseases in a timely manner, prevent their development, give access to medicine to more people and, ultimately, improve their quality of life.

The healthcare digitalization strategy is gradually being implemented and improved over time based on the challenges of our time.

Over the years of independence, many reforms have been undertaken in the health sector and many positive results have been achieved. The following table presents an analysis of the main health indicators of Uzbekistan.

Основные показатели здравохранения Узбекистана

Table 1

The main indicators of healthcare in Uzbekistan

The results of the work and reforms carried out in the healthcare sector of Uzbekistan are clearly reflected in this table. When studying the last five-year period, the figures in the table show that positive changes have been achieved in all major health indicators.

At the same time, it should be noted that in our country there are still not fully resolved problems of improving the health of the population. Analysis of the regional aspects of these problems, improving the quality of medical care for the population is associated with an analysis of the places of hospitals and outpatient clinics.

Сведения о больницах и поликлиниках, оказывающих медицинские услуги населению (посостояниюна 2021 год)

Table 2

Information about hospitals and polyclinics providing medical services to the population
 (as of 2021)

Along with the level of provision of the population with hospital facilities, an important indicator is the number of outpatient clinics per capita.

There are 6,031 outpatient polyclinics in the country and 5,730.2 per outpatient polyclinic organization (see Table 1).

Medical and paramedical personnel perform the basic task of providing health services to the population. Today, there are more than 91,000 medical personnel working in the country’s health system. On average, there are 376 inhabitants per medical worker (Table 3).

Численность населения, приходящаяся на медицинских и средних медицинских
 работников (по состоянию на 2021 год)

Table 3

Population of medical and paramedical workers (as of 2021)

The annual information publication “Budget for Citizens”, published with the assistance of the Ministry of Finance and the United Nations Development Program, acquaints the public with the state budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan. In 2021, for the first time, this publication is complemented by the report on “Public Health Expenditure”. The new publication focuses on healthcare spending, including COVID-19 responses, outpatient and inpatient care, government reproductive health programs, and other spending items. In total, public funding for healthcare in 2021 amounted to 21,047.8 billion soums or 3.1 percent of GDP.

The graph shows that compared to last year, the country’s expenditures increased by 1.42%, and compared to 2019 increased by 42.4%. This reflects the Government’s enormous focus on the health of its citizens and on improving the system.

Most of the budget is for salaries and deductions, while the smallest share is occupied by utilities.

The “other” item includes the acquisition of fixed assets, food expenses, the fund for material incentives and the development of medical institutions, as well as the costs of struggle against coronavirus.

In 2021, the expenditures on salaries in the sphere increased by 21.36% compared to 2019. Of these, 5,948.4 billion soums are intended for workers in medical institutions (hospitals, clinics, maternity hospitals, sanatoriums, hospices), 5,228.3 billion soums are intended for employees of outpatient institutions (out-of-hospital medical institutions: polyclinics, outpatient clinics, midwifery posts, health units) and the rest funds are allocated to other medical institutions.

8 081.0 billion soums were allocated for the expenses of inpatient care institutions, 5 873.0 billion soums for outpatient care. 2,693.9 billion soums are provided for financing other medical institutions, 3 billion soums for the fight against coronavirus infection, and 1.4 billion soums for equipment and reconstruction.

Capital expenditures include construction, renovation, and repair costs. Only 50 billion soums were allocated for equipment, compared to 74 billion soums last year.

The increase in morbidity and the worsening of the epidemiological situation are prerequisites for increasing the logistical capacity, increasing the base of medical equipment and the number of ambulances, as well as increasing the salaries of medical personnel. The increase is directly related to the fight against coronavirus infection.

As of early October 2021, more than 5.7 million people have been vaccinated. The purchase of a vaccine is the largest item of expenditure with an indicator of 1,135 billion soums. The obvious attention of the government of the republic is reflected in the enormous increase in spending on the protection of the health of citizens. Financing of the healthcare sector is 3.1% of GDP. Health indicators are the most important indicators for measuring the performance of the health system, along with indicators for measuring the experience and effectiveness of health care delivery. [Berwick D.M., 2008]. Health financing reform is at the forefront of the government's reform agenda. Increasing public health spending is critical to improving health outcomes. With low government spending and the absence of a nationwide funded insurance system, people are forced to spend money out of their own pockets to gain access to these basic services. This, in turn, leads to unequal access to services and sub-optimal use of preventive services.

Conclusion

As a result of considering the prospects for digitalization and the introduction of innovative technologies in the healthcare system of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the following was established:

1. The most significant subject is the introduction of innovative technologies in the work of healthcare professionals. The analysis showed that the innovation process in medicine in Uzbekistan is generally constrained by several factors:

1) lack of a certain psychological readiness of medical personnel to innovative changes, effective system of training, retraining and advanced training of medical personnel, development of medical science, certification (accreditation) medical scientific and educational institutions according to international standards.

2) widespread introduction of the e-health system, creation of a complex of integrated information systems and databases based on unified national standards.

1. New knowledge, change in thinking and human behaviour are essential to the realization of these principles. The application of these innovative practices is also possible to address other global challenges: climate change, environmental protection, lack of clean freshwater. Modern technologies help healthcare providers to provide quality care even in extreme conditions such as the pandemic.  

Unification of national legislation in the field of health and development of laws directly affecting the quality of health care and protection of patients' rights, responsibility, and protection of medical personnel.