01-July-2013
Collaboration between Australia and Canada has resulted in more than 100 countries now having access to eMedical, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s (DIAC) new electronic health processing system that enables more efficient and cost-effective visa processing.
eMedical is an updated and improved version of the former ‘eHealth’ system used to record online the health examination results of visa applicants who complete their examinations for both DIAC and Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).
“Increased use of eMedical will result in substantial benefits to DIAC and our clients, including improved client service, enhanced integrity and significant financial savings,” a DIAC spokesman said today.
DIAC has been working closely with CIC since early 2011 to progress this ground-breaking initiative and reached the 100-country milestone mid-year. The shared aim of eMedical was to increase the efficiency of both organisations’ visa processing, while sharing support and development costs. It will make the respective immigration medical exam systems more secure, reduce the possibility of error, protect applicants’ privacy and save applicants time.
The project demonstrated what can be achieved in practical terms when Five Country Conference (5CC) partners – Australia, United Kingdom, United Sates, Canada and New Zealand – work together.
“About 78 per cent of Australian eMedical cases are now being auto-cleared, with the results available in minutes and no manual intervention needed, allowing visa processing to continue immediately,” the spokesman said.
DIAC continues to work towards its goal of achieving 100 per cent electronic health processing for Australian immigration health examinations. Shortly DIAC will roll out another major achievement with electronic health processing. Medibank Health Solutions clinics and their regional partners will commence using the eMedical system progressively from mid-July.
In another initiative, DIAC will also release its new My Health Declarations service, which for the first time will enable clients to complete immigration health examinations electronically before lodging their visa application to further facilitate quicker processing times.
Information on this new service and other developments in the immigration health systems space will be available on DIAC’s website from June 30.
