DabaweGNU Inc., a Davao-city based IT organization advocating the use of free and open source software (FOSS), recently entered into an agreement to jointly develop an electronic health record (EHR) application with the UNDP-IOSN ASEAN+3, a regional Center of Excellence for FOSS in the ASEAN region.

DabaweGNU president, Mr. Holden Hao, inked the agreement with UNDP IOSN ASEAN+3 manager Dr. Alvin Marcelo during the 1st OpenHUBS Conference wherein the Mindanao State University-GenSan was designated as the first Philippine OpenHUB last November 27-29, 2007 at Isla Parilla Resort in Alabel, Sarangani Province.  DabaweGNU was invited during the launching event as among the resource speakers.

The electronic health record is a database application that can store patients' personal data, laboratory results, medical history, and other details.  It is expected to ease the keeping of patient records and reportorial requirements of medical practitioners and students both in the Philippines and the ASEAN Region.

Mr. Nathaniel Jayme, a DabaweGNU trustee, was chosen as lead developer of the project to be assisted by other DabaweGNU members. 

The software will be developed using Mr. Jayme's open source application framework called Cruxade, a cross platform framework utilizing XML and the Mozilla Programming Framework. The resulting application which uses the XML User Interface Language (XUL) can run as a plugin of any Mozilla-based browsers such as Firefox or run as standalone application through XULrunner.  Both the application framework, Cruxade, and the electronic health record software will be released under the GNU General Public License version 3 (GPL v3) and will be available for download from its project website at http://trac.afterfivetech.com/ffehr/.