Hello from Minoru Development in Paris. I am enclosing a press release for
your consideration.

Minoru is an open source software company with operations in Paris (FR),
Edinburgh (UK), and Toronto (CA).

Our firm worked with McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario (CA) to
secure funding worth $1M Cdn to expand the deployment of OSCAR - an open
source computer practice management system.

This is significant because of the dollar amount, but more importantly, it
underscores the awareness of both the provincial government and the
university of the up-and-coming open source technological wave.

Open source technologies such as the Linux operating system are becoming
more and more important in industry and public administration.

Another important element is the hosting of future OSCAR development on an
about-to-be-released web portal called SPIRIT, partially funded by the
European Commission in Brussels (BE).

The official release date for this announcement is 20.April.2001. 

Relevant URLs:
-the main Minoru site:  http://www.openhealth.com
-link to the Minoru site press release (advance
copy): http://www.openhealth.com/en/press/20apr01.html
-link to the SPIRIT site: http://www.euspirit.org

If you would like any additional information or have any questions, feel
free to contact me.

Kind regards,
--
Dave Scott
Minoru Development Corporation; Minoru Development SARL
The home of Openhealth(tm): http://www.openhealth.com
 
3, rue du Colonel Moll, 75017 Paris France
+33.6.8750.2465 
dscott@openhealth.com


PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release.


McMaster University's Department of Family Medicine Primary 
Care Network Receives $1M Cdn to Implement Open Source 
Primary Care System 



TORONTO, CANADA, APRIL 20, 2001-- Minoru Development Corporation is pleased
to announce that its client, the McMaster University Department of Family
Medicine's Primary Care Network (PCN), has received $1M Cdn in funding from
the Ontario Ministry of Health Primary Care Reform initiative to enhance and
expand the implementation of OSCAR (formerly MUFFIN) - its open source
primary care system. Primary care reform is a province-wide initiative to
identify better, most cost-effective ways of delivering primary care in
Ontario. 
Minoru is also pleased to announce that OSCAR will be hosted on SPIRIT, the
global internet portal for open source health care applications. The SPIRIT
site is located at www.euspirit.org. 
Primary Care Reform is a province-wide initiative to identify better, more
cost-effective ways of delivering primary care in the Province. 
The Ontario Ministry of Health funded Minoru's Joseph Dal Molin to develop
the software strategy, business case, and funding submission for the McMaster
PCN. Mr. Dal Molin also provided assistance during the Ministry of Health's
software certification process and liaison to senior staff at the Ministry of
Health and Ontario Medical Association. 
Dr. David Chan, director of McMaster's Stonechurch clinic, began OSCAR's
development and has freely distributed its source code since 1988. Originally
designed as a single PC encounter-sheet based system, it has evolved into a
networked on-line system that supports teaching, research, evaluation, and
care delivery. 
OSCAR is currently implemented in the McMaster PCN's two community-based
teaching clinics, supporting approximately 100 users working in
multidisciplinary teams service a patient population of 20,000. It is
currently the largest implementation of a fully operational open source
primary care system. OSCAR has been implemented internationally at the
Chinese University of Hong Kong Department of Community Medicine, the Hong
Kong University General Practice Teaching Unit, academic family practices in
Taiwan, and a rural practice in South Australia. 
The McMaster University medical school is one of the most innovative medical
schools in the world. It pioneered the community-oriented, people-centred,
interdisciplinary and problem-based learning model, which has been adopted by
many leading medical schools. McMaster is a pioneer in the field of evidence
based medicine. 




About Minoru and SPIRIT
Minoru is the world leader in open source solutions for health care. Minoru
pioneered the application of the open source model in health care and
established the open source health care community by hosting the Openhealth
[tm] listserver, sponsoring the Primary Care Open Source Summit in September
1999, and initiating the creation of the Open Source Health Care Alliance
(OSHCA). 
Minoru is co-ordinating the development of SPIRIT, a web portal designed to
accelerate the development and uptake of open source applications in health
care by providing a meeting place, information, and services to the
community. 
SPIRIT is funded by the European Commission's 5th Framework Research and
Development Programme and an international consortium of European open source
companies. 


For more information:
Dave Scott
Minoru Development
3, rue du Colonel Moll
F-75017 Paris France
+33 (6) 8750 2465

email: info@openhealth.com
web: www.openhealth.com 


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