Health Ministry to go digital

Last Updated 14 years ago by Kenya Engineer

e-Health

The ministry of health has announced plans to go digital following governments’ efforts to initiate e-governance. Speaking during the annual Kenya Medical Association, Information Ministry PS, Bitange Ndemo said that the pilot programme was underway and nothing could stop it.

“A pilot programme is underway at the Kenyatta National Hospital to prepare for the nationwide rollout of the e-health strategy”, said Ndemo.

The programme to be funded through a public-private partnership will involve interlinking health centres and converting health records in the country to soft copy. This will aid in cutting cost by eliminating duplication of tests as patient records will be available online. An online electronic medical supplies procurement system will also be established. It is expected to make buying goods more efficient and cheaper.

Digital medical records will be crucial in providing statistics necessary to show disease trends and prevalence rates and thus help forecast potential outbreaks. Such health records will be stored at a national data centre, providing medical researchers with an opportunity to consult with doctors in other countries and share the best practices as well as new knowledge in the health profession.

However privacy concerns remain as online health records may be seen by unauthorized people and affect the traditional doctor-patient relationship. The programme will make it possible to access doctor’s professional resumes and achievements such as specialization, research, number of surgeries and how many of their patients have died.

According to Lulu Waitara of Lulu Medical Group, Pharma is willing to put their money in the project since it will help in their research and development.

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