Government embraces electronic medical records system
What you need to know:
- Explaining how the software works, Mr Jonathan Mpago, a health informatics systems analyst working with Makerere University School of Public Health, said the system will help to show which doctor attended to a certain patient and at what time.
- Mr Mpango said the inter-connection will enable sharing of information between departments like the laboratory, administration and pharmacy, thus aiding better patient management.
Kampala. The Ministry of Health has introduced an electronic medical records system to, among other things, track patients’ history countrywide.
The system targets patients who visit both public and private health facilities around the country.
Under the new initiative, an individual’s medical information can be electronically shared from one department to another while observing confidentiality.
The government has started with HIV/Aids patients, but will later enroll it to all clinical aspects of medicine to boost the referral system.
Currently, the Health ministry is working closely with Makerere University School of Public Health to customise and adopt the Open Medical Records Systems (OpenMRS) in more than 425 health facilities.
On Tuesday, while speaking at the opening of the OpenMRS international conference happening in Kampala, the assistant commissioner of planning at the ministry, Dr Sarah Byakika, who represented the Health minister, said government plans to roll-out OpenMRS in 1,000 health facilities by the end of 2017.
“This may seem like an ambitious target, but we have implementing partners who are doing a great job to have this target achieved,” Dr Byakika said.
She added that the conference contributes to improving health service delivery through improved electronic information systems.
Dr Paul Biondich, who is one of the developers of the OpenMRS application and also an associate professor of pediatrics at Indiana University in the United States, said the conference is aimed at the implementation of the new electronic medical system in about 26 participating countries.
He explained that the online-based system can aggregate patients’ data to determine disease trends and patterns in a given area.
However, Prof William Bazeyo, the Dean of Makerere University School of Public Health, said the only limiting factor to the implementation of the paperless system is inadequate electricity supply in some parts of the country.
How it works
Explaining how the software works, Mr Jonathan Mpago, a health informatics systems analyst working with Makerere University School of Public Health, said the system will help to show which doctor attended to a certain patient and at what time.
“The UgandaEMR will help us to address lost follow-up of HIV patients at community level, pregnant mothers who miss the four antenatal visits and Tuberculosis patients as they receive their treatment,” he said.
Mr Mpango said the inter-connection will enable sharing of information between departments like the laboratory, administration and pharmacy, thus aiding better patient management.
