RESUMO
The aim of this study is to identify vendors of software packages applicable to health care system as well as to evaluate software packages offered to the health sector by a variety of sources, namely state owned software development companies, privately operated software development companies as well as sole traders. The approach undertaken was to preselect the potential suppliers via an initial targeted interview. Subsequently a questionnaire, consisting of 23 questions, was addressed to the selected vendors and suppliers. The response rate to the questionnaire was 58%. Investigation of 113 has revealed the non government software suppliers clearly lead in copyright ownership, IBM compatible personal computers were the platform of choice whereas majority of code was written utilising languages capable of supporting relational data base queries. The final outcome of the above study is a database of software packages and applications available to the health sector offering the health professionals and institutions guide lines and support in developing information systems, relevant subsystems and modules.