Tag: gnuhealth

Luis Falcon, author of GNU Health, receives the One World One Family Humanitarian award in the field of Healthcare

Luis Falcon receives the One World One Family Humanitarian award in the field of Healthcare from Sri Madhusudan Sai at the World Cultural Festival, Sathya Sai Grama, Muddenahalli, India

Muddenahalli, August 17th 2025

Dr. Luis Falcón, author of GNU Health and founder of GNU Solidario, received the One World One Family Humanitarian award in the field of Healthcare from Sri Madhusudan Sai, founder of One World One Family mission.

Sri Madhusudan Sai delivering the One World One Family Humanitarian Award to Luis Falcón. on the right, Sri B.N. Narasimha Murthy

The award ceremony took place during the World Cultural Festival in Sathya Sai Grama, Muddenahalli, India, this Monday, August 17th.

The award reads:

Citation
ONE WORLD ONE FAMILY
HUMANITARIAN AWARD 2025

in the category of
Healthcare
is hereby conferred on

Dr. Luis Falcón
of Spain
on 17 August 2025 at Sathya Sai Grama, Muddenahalli

A Pioneer in Open Science for Global Healthcare

Dr Luis Falcón is honored for his outstanding contributions to advancing social medicine, ethical research, and healthcare accessibility worldwide. He is the founder of GNU Solidario and creator of GNU Health, a United Nations-adopted, award-winning health information system. His work has transformed hospitals and research institutions across the globe.

Through open-source innovation, compassionate care models, and his advocacy for cruelty-free, human-relevant research, Dr Falcón bridges medicine, technology, and ethics to serve both humanity and the planet. His dedication to integrating genomics, environmental health, and precision medicine continues to inspire efforts toward a more equitable and sustainable future for global health.

His commitment to health equity continues to inspire hope for a future where healthcare is truly ethical, inclusive, and accesible to all.

Sadugru Sri Madhusudan Sai
Founder, One World One Family Mission

At GNU Solidario, we are honored for this award from such a noble Mission as One World One Family, that shares the spirit of delivering universal health and education across the world. In November, the One World One Family mission will inaugurate the largest free hospital in the world, a 600 bed tertiary hospital that will keep on providing universal healthcare, free of charge, for those who need it most, not just in India, but across the globe.

Luis Falcón during his speech at Sathya Sai Grama auditorium

Whether is building hospitals, providing shelter and free education to the underprivileged or writing Free/Libre software to empower health professionals and their patients, we all have a common goal: Freedom and dignity to anyone in this world.

In 2011 – almost fifteen years ago from now – it was Richard Stallman, creator of the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation, who gave Luis Falcón the award for Social Benefit for the GNU Health project.

Since then, the GNU Health Hospital Information System has been adopted by countries Ministries of Health, multilateral organizations, laboratories, hospitals, health professionals, academic and research institutions across the world.

We are humbled and full of gratitude, joy and commitment to keep on fighting in advancing Social Medicine. In these times of darkness, the One World One Family mission is a beacon of hope, and we are very proud to be part of it.

The One World One Family Humanitarian in Healthcare awards beside the GNU and FSF award to GNU health for Social benefit

We want to make this award extensive to all the GNU community, and to any of you around the world that writes Free/Libre software for the betterment of the society.

Much love

The GNU Solidario team

Aportes del sistema libre GNU Health al cuidado de la salud: experiencias en Honduras y Argentina

Jornada: “Aportes del sistema libre GNU Health al cuidado de la salud: experiencias en Honduras y Argentina” – Viernes 13 de junio 2025 – Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos

Jornada: “Aportes del sistema libre GNU Health al cuidado de la salud: experiencias en Honduras y Argentina”

📅 Viernes 13 de Junio
📍 Centro de Innovación, Emprendimiento y Vinculación
🏛 Facultad de Ingeniería – UNER

En esta jornada exploraremos las experiencias prácticas y los avances en la implementación de GNU Health en el primer nivel de atención en salud.
En el marco de la Alianza Académica “GNU Health – UNER”, contaremos con la presencia de docentes invitados de la UNITEC (Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana, Honduras), gracias al Programa de Movilidad Internacional Docente (PROMID) de la Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos (UNER).

Jornada "Aportes del sistema libre GNU Health al cuidado de la salud: Experiencias en Honduras y Argentina" En el marco de la Alianza Académica "GNU Health", con la presencia de profesores invitados de la UNITEC (Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana) en el contexto del Programa de Movidlidad Internacional Docente (PROMID) de la Universidad Nacional de Entre Rïos


Esta jornada es una oportunidad para:
✅ Conocer las últimas actualizaciones de GNU Health directamente de su creador, el Dr. Luis Falcón (GNU Solidario).
✅ Descubrir casos reales de implementación en Argentina (CAPS D’Angelo) y Honduras (Municipio del Níspero).
✅ Participar en talleres prácticos para aprender a instalar y utilizar el sistema.
✅ Conectar con profesionales y académicos comprometidos con la salud pública y las tecnologías libres.

🔗 Reserva e-mail: saludpublica@ingenieria.uner.edu.ar

Programa

SecciónHoraTítulo
Apertura8:45Autoridades / Organizadores
Experiencias en el uso de GNU Health9:00Aportes de GNU Health al primer nivel de atención, una mirada retrospectiva. Bioing. Carlos Scotta y Bioing. Ingrid Spessotti (Grupo de Estudios en Salud Pública y Tecnologías Aplicadas, FIUNER)
9:45Experiencia en CAPS D’Angelo. Historia y presente de GNU Health como herramienta de gestión del cuidado de la salud – Lic. Teresita Calzia, Claudia Gudiño y equipo del CAPS
10:30Experiencia en el Municipio del Níspero. Honduras – Ing. Lucy Rodas e Ing. Elvin Deras (UNITEC, Honduras)
11:15Presentación de la nueva versión de GNU Health – Dr. Luis Falcón (GNU Solidario)

12:00Break
Taller de implementación del sistema14:00Primeros pasos con GNU Health: instalación y puesta en marcha del sistema – Ing. Elvin Deras (UNITEC, Honduras)
15:00Conociendo GNU Health: principales funcionalidades. Inga. Lucy Rodas (UNITEC, Honduras), Bioinga Maia Iturain, Bioinga. Ingrid Spessotti, Bioing Francisco Moyano (Grupo de Estudios en Salud Pública y Tecnologías Aplicadas, FIUNER)

16:00Break
Proyectos en curso16:20Empoderando a la comunidad: Desarrollo de un Portal Paciente para GNU Health – Ana Roskopf
16:40PID UNER: adaptando el sistema GNU Health para enfermería de salud mental – Aldana Gagliardi
17:10Incorporando sistemas para el acompañamiento y seguimiento en terreno – Bioinga. Maia Iturain
Cierre17:30El sueño de un sistema interoperable: aspectos técnicos y políticos de la salud digital – Lic Mario Puntín, Bioing. Francisco Moyano, Dr. Fernando Sassetti.

Suriname Public Healthcare System embraces GNU Health

The government of Suriname has adopted GNU Health for the Public Healthcare system.

Suriname has adopted GNU Health Hospital and Health Information System for their Public Healthcare system.

The adoption of GNU Health was announced during the press release celebrated last Friday, May 9th in Paramaribo, in the context of the country healthcare digitization campaign. They defined GNU Health as “An open source system that is both accessible and scalable”1. During the event, the Suriname Patient Portal and My Health App were also announced.

Press release. From left to right: Prof. Dr Jerry Toelsie, Minister Amar Ramadhin, Dr Aloysius Koendjbihari and Mr. Richard Mendes

The Minister of Health, Dr. Amar Ramadhin, made emphasis on the benefits of this digital transformation. “We move away from paper files and work towards greater efficiency and patient-oriented care experience”.

Digitization is supported by the IS4HIT Information Systems for Health Information Technology) program, an initiative of the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO), whose delegates where at the conference, together with local health professionals.

The GNU Health Hospital and Health Information System – from the socioeconomic determinants of health to the molecular basis of disease

The GNU Health rollout will be done in phases throughout the different public health centers, starting at the Regional Service Centers (RGDs). The main focus is on Primary Care. Some of the tasks in the initial phase will be demographics, patient management, appointments, medical encounters, prescriptions, complementary tests orders and reporting. Training sessions to the local health professionals and technical team are being conducted, as well as the localization to Suriname.

Minister Ramadhin declared: “[Healthcare] Digitization is not an end in itself but a powerful means to make care more human-oriented, safer and more efficient.” . That’s where GNU Health fits right in. The Hospital and Health Information System of GNU Health has Social Medicine and primary care at its core. It excels in health promotion and disease prevention. When properly implemented and used, GNU Health is way more than just an Electronic Medical Record or a Hospital Management Information System. It empowers health professionals to assess the socioeconomic determinants of health and disease, taking a proactive approach to prevent and tackle the root of the diseases at individual, family and society level. The world is facing a pandemic of non-transmissible diseases. Obesity, diabetes, depression, cancer and neurodegenerative conditions are on the rise, with a appalling impact on the underprivileged. GNU Health will be a great ally for nurses, physicians, nutritionists and social workers of Suriname to find and engage those at higher risk. in the community.

The fact that GNU Health is Free/Libre software allows Suriname to download, study the system and adapt it to their needs and legislation, free of any kind of vendor lock-in. After all, health is -or it should be- a non-negotiable human right.

GNU Health is now part of Suriname to deliver a sustainable, interoperable, standard-based, privacy oriented, scalable digital healthcare solution for the country public health system.

A Digital Public Good. In 2022 GNU Health was declared a Digital Public Good by the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA). By definition, a Digital Public Good is open-source software, open data, open AI models, open standards, and open content that adhere to privacy and other applicable best practices, do no harm by design and are of high relevance for attainment of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This definition stems from the UN Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation.

We are very proud and excited to see GNU Health deployed in Suriname national public health system and wish them the very best embracing the system as we envision it, a social project with some technology behind.

About GNU Health

GNU Health is an open science, community driven project from GNU Solidario, a non-profit humanitarian organization focused on Social Medicine. Our project has been adopted by public hospitals, research and academic institutions, governments and multilateral organizations around the world.

GNU Health is a GNU official package, awarded with the Free Software Foundation award of Social benefit and declared a Digital Public Good.

See also:

GNU Health : https://www.gnuhealth.org

GNU Solidario: https://www.gnusolidario.org

  1. https://www.surinametimes.com/artikel/suriname-zet-grote-stappen-richting-digitale-gezondheidszorg ↩︎

GNU Health Hospital Information System 5.0 enters alpha

We are very happy to announce that the upcoming version of GNU Health Hospital Information System has entered feature-complete alpha stage. This upcoming version of GNU Health HIS 5.0 supposes over a year of work and is the largest release in terms of functionality and refactoring.

GNU Health HIS 5.0 is expected to be released by the end of June.

This new release comes after over a year of development to deliver state-of-the-art libre technology and user experience. In a nutshell:

  • Tryton 7.0 LTS support
  • New functionality for patient procedures and medical interventions
  • Improved reporting and analytics
  • Enhanced the Laboratory Information System (GNU LIMS – Occhiolino)
  • New features on patient obstetric history and pregnancy related evaluations
  • Improved ergonomics and views on demographics and patient related information.
  • Improved medical genetics and family history taking. Update to the latest genes, proteins and natural variants datasets from UniProt and HUGO
  • Enhanced socoeconomic and family functionalty assessment
  • Extensively revised Medical Imaging, DICOM worklists and Orthanc packages
  • Reorganize nursing and ambulatory care packages
  • Enhanced patient body composition and anthropometrics
  • Enhanced “Focus on” patient section, including automated settings and mental health
  • New insurance and billing features for medical interventions and insurance plans.
  • Improved patient safety and allergic conditions checks and prescription writing

On the technical side we have worked on:

  • Migration to Python Poetry and pyproject.toml from setuptools
  • Increased modularity and minimize dependencies among packages
  • Simplified installation and administration (Virtual machine images, pip, ansible)
  • Improved stability using virtual environment in the installation
  • Over 30 localization and language teams at Codeberg.

At this point, our focus in on testing, translation, packaging and documentation. In the coming days we’ll migrate our community server so we can all test the upcoming version.

For those of you on GNU Health 4.4, please start thinking on the migration project to GH HIS 5.0. This new version is a major leap that delivers many benefits, so we highly encourage you to upgrade. As always, the migration methods and tools are included.

We’d like to invite you to translate GNU Health at Codeberg weblate translation instance and to report any issues you may find during this period.

Don’t forget to follow us in Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@gnuhealth) to get the latest on this and other GNU Health news!

Stay tuned and happy hacking!

About GNU Health

GNU Health is a Libre, community driven project from GNU Solidario, a non-profit humanitarian organization focused on Social Medicine. Our project has been adopted by public and private health institutions and laboratories, multilateral organizations and national public health systems around the world.

The GNU Health project provides the tools for individuals, health professionals, institutions and governments to proactively assess and improve the underlying determinants of health, from the socioeconomic agents to the molecular basis of disease. From primary health care to precision medicine.

The following are the main components that make up the GNU Health ecosystem:

  • Hospital Management (HMIS)
  • Social Medicine and Public Health
  • Laboratory Management (Occhiolino)
  • Personal Health Record (MyGNUHealth)
  • Bioinformatics and Medical Genetics
  • Thalamus and Federated health networks
  • GNU Health embedded on Single Board devices

GNU Health is a GNU (www.gnu.org) official package, awarded with the Free Software Foundation award of Social benefit. GNU Health has been declared a Digital Public Good ,adopted by many hospitals, governments and multilateral organizations around the globe.

GHCon2024, the GNU Health Conference . Palermo, Italy

Dear community:

We’re excited to announce the IX International GNU Health Conference, that will take place in beautiful Sicily, Italy, at the University of Palermo this December 15th.

Mount Etna rising over suburbs of Catania, Sicily (Wikimedia)

The GNU Health Conference (GHCon) is the annual conference that brings together enthusiasts and developers of GNU Health, the Libre digital health ecosystem. The conference will have thematic sessions, lightning talks and implementation cases to get to know the GNU Health and other Free/Libre software communities from around the world.

We will show the upcoming features of the Health and Hospital Information System, standards, security, privacy, the GNU Health Federation and MyGNUHealth (the Personal Health Record).

GHCon2024 – The IX International GNU Health Conference


The XVII International Workshop on eHealth in Emerging Economies (IWEEE) is about Social Medicine and addressing the reality of the underprivileged around the world. There will be workshops to debate, and share experiences from humanitarian organizations and from those working in field of Social Medicine.

In the evening we will announce and honor the winners of the GNU Health Social Medicine awards.

We are counting on you to get the most out of the conference. Most importantly, we want you to have fun, feel at home, and enjoy being part
of the GNU Health community.

Looking forward to seeing you in Sicily!

Happy Hacking!

GHCon2024 homepage: https://www.gnuhealth.org/ghcon
Registration: https://my.gnusolidario.org/ghcon2024-registration/

Follow us in Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@gnuhealth) for the latest news.

You can share the news using the tag #GHCon2024

Time to take back the Internet

It’s no news. They’re stealing the Internet from us and we must do something about it. What it used to be a fun, collaborative hacking space is now ruled by corporations and narcissistic billionaires. Proprietary centralized social networks have become a space for hate, discrimination and propaganda. The messages that you see are those that they want you to see. Your data is no longer yours. They have become a massive thought control machine. You read what they want you to read and, in the end, you will end up writing and doing what they want you to write and to do. It’s a matter of time and money, and they have both.

These corporate-driven social networks are deceiving. They make us fall into false assumptions in a distorted reality. This delusion hits both individuals and organizations. For instance, in GNU Solidario and GNU Health, we fight for Social Medicine and for the rights of human and non-human animals. When we want to share an event, to make a fundraising campaign or to denounce human or animal rights violations we want the message to reach out as many people as possible. We could think, why not share it with our followers on Twitter / X? Experience has it, corporate social networks have not really made a difference in the outcomes. They will promote or “shadow ban” the message depending on who wrote it. You can guess the results for those who fight against neoliberal capitalism.

“The many branches of the Fediverse” (credits: Axbom)

Social pressure exists, and is not trivial to overcome. Many fear that leaving proprietary centralized social networks that have been using for years will result in losing the status and contacts they’ve built throughout the years. Again, it’s not really a big deal. And we have great news, there are decentralized, community-driven alternatives! Some of those alternatives are Mastodon, Friendica or Diaspora. Not only social networks, today there is an free software alternative to pretty much any proprietary solution (search engines, scientific programs, multimedia, office suites, databases, games…)

The GNU head, symbol of the GNU project

There is a correlation between Free Software, freedom and privacy. The more Free Software, the more freedom and privacy you enjoy. The contrary also applies: Proprietary software is inversely proportional to our freedom, both at individual and collective level. There is no transparency, no privacy, no control, no rights in proprietary applications, networks or clouds.

In the last decades, the tech giants have been busy in a campaign to dismantle the Free Software philosophy and community. The “open source” euphemism is one of them. Richard Stallman (creator of the GNU project and the Free Software Foundation) has been warning us about the dangers of “Open Source”. Free societies are built with free software, not with open source. I know some members in the free software community use both terms interchangeably, but I am convinced using the “Free Software” terms not only delivers software, but also freedom to our society.

Internet is no longer fun or empathetic. It has become a hostile and toxic environment, the medium for corporations and elites that increase concentration of power, social gradient and create very unjust societies. They use our data to control individuals and governments. We certainly don’t want to be part of that.

It is our moral duty to bring back spirit of solidarity that RMS delivered in the late 80’s, and that made possible the GNU movement, the best operating systems, programming languages, web servers and database engines for everyone. The GNU project was the inspiration for projects like GNU Health, helping millions around the globe, delivering freedom and equity in healthcare.

In the end, it is up to us to embrace federated, community driven social networks and free software applications. Millions of individuals, activists, free software projects, NGOs and even the European Union have already joined the Fediverse and Mastodon. It only takes an initial push to break the social pressure to set ourselves and our societies free.

Collage with some members of the GNU Health community around the world

Citing our friends from GNUnet: “You broke the Internet… we’ll build a GNU one”.

Happy hacking!

Follow us in Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@gnuhealth

Migrar, migrant, migràrem

Sea-Eye Search and Rescue missions in the Mediterranean and how GNU Health can help them

The title of this article, “Migrar, migrant, migràrem“, comes from a beautiful poem written by Laia Porcar[1], that inspired the strikingly profound painting by Sara Belles [2] “Jo per tu, fill meu“. The artists reflect the migrants ordeal to provide a better life to their children and families, even at the cost of losing their own lives.

GNU Health[3] is a Social project with some technology behind and the mission at Sea-Eye is one of the best examples. After all, GNU Solidario[4] is a NGO that focuses in the advancement of Social Medicine.

We live a world of injustice. Concentration of power, social gradient and poverty rates keep on the rise. Artificial intelligence is on the hands of mega private corporations, targeting our privacy and feeding the macabre business of war. The fight for scarce natural resources such as lithium or coltan creates coups in impoverished countries. Nature and non-human animals are used and abused as mere commodities. Our world turns a blind eye to the systematic crushing and eradication of civilian population by powerful armies. As a result, we live in a world where migration is not a choice, but the only way out for millions of human beings, even at the risk of becoming anonymous victims in the Atlantic ocean or Mediterranean sea mass graveyards.

“Jo per tu, fill meu”, by Sara Belles

But there is hope. The Sea-Eye mission is the end result of a network of solidarity, cooperation and empathy. The Free Software movement started by Richard Stallman[5]; Julian Sassenscheidt message in Mastodon and his presentation at GNU Health Con 2023[6] ; The work of our representative in Germany, Gerald Wiese; the Chaos Computer Club[7]; the team from L’Aurora[8] providing logistic support to the Search and Rescue vessels; the phenomenal Sea-Eye family who made me feel at home: The cook, crew on deck, the logistics and medical team who stood stoically intensive hours of GNU Health training. Of course, Selene, the heart of GNU Solidario and the one that looks after the human and non-human family members while I’m away.

You will hardly see these people in the news, because most corporate-backed media neglect them and their organizations. Unlike some billionaire “philanthropists” that take the media spotlight, these anonymous heroes stand on the right side of history, making a difference on the present and future of those who need it most, with very limited resources.

Collage of several pictures during my stay at the Sea-eye

We’re very happy and proud to see that GNU Health can be of help to Sea-Eye in tasks such as guests registration, health evaluations, reporting, statistics and stock management. This is just the beginning and we will be optimizing and adding functionality on successive missions. That said, GNU Health will always play a secondary role compared to picking up somebody from the water and giving them a welcoming hug. Again, we’re a social project with a bit of technology behind.

Drawings made by the children rescued at the Sea-eye

I’d like to finish with a reflection on the picture I took to some of the drawings done by children during their stay at the Sea-Eye. The drawings exist because the Sea-eye crew rescued those kids. Otherwise, their corpses would be at the bottom of the Mediterranean sea, along with thousands who tragically perished trying to find dignity in this world. Thank you, Sea-eye. You are priceless.

A final note: shame on those countries and governments that detain and punish Search and Rescue vessels. Saving lives is not a crime.

Love, freedom and happy hacking

You can obtain Sara Belles painting and Laia Porcar poem from L’Aurora solidarity shop[8]

  1. Laia Porcar : https://laravalerateatre.com/qui-som/
  2. Sara Belles . https://sarabelles.es/
  3. The GNU Health project. https://www.gnuhealth.org
  4. GNU Solidario. Advancing Social Medicine https://www.gnusolidario.org
  5. The GNU Operating System. https://www.gnu.org
  6. Search and rescue on the central Mediterranean migratory route . https://https://www.gnuhealthcon.org/2023/presentations/GHCon2023-Friday-07-Julian_Sassenscheidt-Search_and_rescue_on_the_central_Mediterranean_migratory_route.pdf
  7. The Chaos Computer Club (CCC) . https://www.ccc.de/en/
  8. L’Aurora suport. https://aurorasuport.org/

The importance of Health Informatics in Kenya – Cirugía Solidaria and GNU Health

The team from Cirugía Solidaria has completed another successful medical and surgical campaign in the African continent, using GNU Health.

The team from Cirugía Solidaria has completed another successful campaign in the African continent.

Health professionals from Maragua hospital and Cirugía Solidaria with GNU Health Hospital Management System training session

The project took place in the hospital of Maragua, in Muranga county, Kenya. Dr. Victor López, from Cirugía Solidaria, describes the experiences during the seven day mission:

“In our latest project in Maragua, Kenya, we had 406 patient evaluations, and 142 of these patients underwent surgery. Some relevant information on the surgical procedures were 32 pediatric surgeries, 22 goiter, 11 cervical masses and 13 oncological surgeries. In addition, we detected 36 patients with cancer that were referred to the Kenya National Cancer Registry for treatment and followup.”

The mission checklist: In these type of projects, there are quite a bit of preparation that starts at home, in Spain, before taking the airplane to the final destination. In addition to the medical and surgical infrastructure, since the partnership with GNU Solidario, medical informatics components are now part of every mission from Cirugía Solidaria. For instance, the GNUHealth Hospital Management system instance is created, with the functionality and localization to meet the health institution needs and country needs. Network routers, laptops, batteries, backup devices…. everything has do be tested thoroughly in different contexts, because once you arrive to destination, there might not be Internet available.

Source: Cirugía Solidaria

Surgical training: In addition to the medical assistance and surgical procedures, Cirugía Solidaria also takes the Dr López noted, in addition, 11 health professionals have participated in training sessions related to surgery.

The role of GNUHealth: Dr. López went on highlighting the importance of GNUHealth. We want to highlight the GNU Health Hospital Management System in the our medical and surgical assistance. We have recorded all the patients, the evaluations and the details of the surgical procedures. In addition, we have addressed notes and details so we can followup when we return to the center. Moreover, GNU Health has been managed 100% by the health professionals from Kenya, they’ve have felt fully integrated in the initiative, being now part of the team. We are very grateful to the GNUHealth community for the enormous task they do to improve the assistance in countries and places that need it most.

We’d like to remark the importance of Dr. Lopez statement “GNU Health has been managed 100% by the health professionals from Kenya“. This is key, because not only the mission is very valuable to help those that need it most (medical and surgical), but it also generates local capacity and sustainable projects, for the betterment of our societies.

We are very grateful to Cirugía Solidaria and excited to keep on working side-by-side in upcoming projects, building local capacity and delivering a much needed universal healthcare. By looking at the statistics from the latest campaign, those numbers reflect lives that have been saved by anonymous heroes that leave their daily work aside to assist the underprivileged anywhere around the world.

Finally, some technical details for those of us who understand that Free/Libre software and open science are key for freedom, privacy and equity in healthcare: GNUHealth instance was installed on a Debian GNU/Linux 12 server, with GNU Health Hospital Information Management System component 4.2, Tryton 6.0 and PostgreSQL 15. Our gratitude to these fabulous pieces of software, that make GH a reality today.

Leading Public Mental Health Hospital in Argentina embraces GNU Health

Hospital Escuela de Salud Mental chooses GNUHealth to improve their resources, clinical records and patient management

The World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Unfortunately, this definition is far from being a reality in our societies. Instead of embracing the system of health, we live in the system of disease, ruled by a reactive, reductionist and unsustainable model of healthcare. The beautiful noble art and science of medicine is ill. Financial institutions and giant technological corporations are removing the human factor from medicine, transforming people and patients into clients. They are reducing the non-negotiable human right to healthcare to a privilege of a few.

Coming back to the formal definition of health, in the current system of disease very little is taken into account from the social and mental well-being . Today, many people with mental health conditions not only have to deal with the physiopathological aspects of the disorder, but also with the stigma, exclusion and invisibilization from the society.

But there is hope. Medicine is a social science, and GNUHealth is a social project with some technology behind. That feeling of optimism and hope has been reinforced in last week trip to Argentina and their people. In the end, medicine is about people interacting and taking care of people. Is about people before patients. I know them well, because I did my medical career in Argentina.

Group picture with health professionals from HESM, UNER, Government officials and GNU Solidario at the entrance of the leading Public Mental Health Hospital in Entre Ríos, Argentina

The Mental Health Hospital has chosen GNUHealth to improve the management of the institution resources, as well as to provide the best medical care for their community, both in outpatient and inpatient settings. Being able to properly identify every person who needs attention, and knowing the socio-sanitary, medical and clinical history in real time will make a big difference in the care of the individual.

The implementation of GNUHealth in this health institution will be lead by Prof. Dr. Fernando Sassetti and the department of public health studies of the University of Entre Ríos in the context of the GNU Health Alliance of Academic and Research Institutions agreement signed with GNU Solidario.

Health is an equilibrium of the inseparable and interconnected physical, social, mental and spiritual domains. Medicine is about taking into consideration and maintaining this body-mind-spirit-environment balance. This holistic approach to medicine is encoded in the genome of every nurse, psychologist, social worker and doctor from the Mental Health Hospital and the Primary care centers I got to know during these years in Entre Ríos, Argentina.

Links / References

Un software Libre para mejorar las políticas de salud: https://www.eldiario.com.ar/253548-un-software-para-mejorar-las-politicas-de-salud/

Hospital Escuela de Salud Mental : http://www.hesm.gob.ar/

Audiovisual institucional Hospital Escuela de Salud Mental: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx08WyfKRIE&t=12s

GNU Health: https://www.gnuhealth.org