As individual member states embark on their own healthcare digitalisation initiatives, EU-wide programs are pushing standardisation and interoperability plans.
06:15 AM
French president Emmanuel Macron has promised to invest €1 billion in a national cybersecurity strategy, following ransomware attacks on two hospitals this month.
The hospitals at Dax and Villefranche-sur-Saône were paralysed by attacks in which hackers blocked the telephone systems, forcing the hospitals to shut off the internet service and other networks to keep the ransomware from spreading. This affected patient records, surgical devices, medication management, appointments, bed and doctor allocation.
Patient operations were postponed and some patients moved to other hospitals, while hospital staff were forced to return to paper-based methods such as hand-made service charts and appointment books.