On the Development of Medical Informatics in the Former German Democratic Republic (GDR)

Abstract

After German reunification, many projects and activities in the field of medical informatics and EDP use in the health care system of the former GDR fell into oblivion. Prior to 1989 considerable projects had been initiated there, primarily through personal initiatives and well-trained employees. They were implemented in co-operation with health facilities and successfully transferred to routine operations despite the need to often use deficient hardware standards compared to the Fed- eral Republic of Germany. Since there was no need to bill for treatment services in the GDR, the activities for EDP/ IT application focused primarily on medicine and care, disease-related registers and medical statistical evaluations for management and planning. Organization and use of computers were seen as a necessary unit in all areas of application and projects, as was the complex relationship between medicine and information technology in general. An example of this was the qualification program of the GDR Academy for Advanced Medical Training for academics working in the sciences, in technological departments and in medicine to acquire the specialist qualification “Biomathematics and Medical Informatics”. The article takes a look at the history of medical informatics in the GDR and highlights the technical developments of the time. It furthermore examines the networking and training between informatics and medicine and the changing working conditions before and after reunification, which can still serve as an interesting and often overlooked teaching example of IT implementation in medicine today.