Kenya’s national referral hospital the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) will digitise its data entry functions by September this year. About 4 million records are targeted for conversion into digital format.
Data entry from the normal manual to digital form will be unveiled in the ear, nose and throat (ENT) clinics as the first phase of the scheme, the KNH reports.
Data converted will be used for diagnostic care and treatment as well as in coming up with measures to prevent various diseases and assess outcome of clinical trials.
Medical practitioners will also use it for research and monitoring certain diseases in prone areas.
The move from analog to digital will enhance prompt services in the national hospital, according to a source from KNH.
Last week Thursday, officials from Kenya ICT Board and other stakeholders visited the place currently undergoing the transformation phase.
Kenya ICT Board Marketing Director and Deputy CEO Eunice Kariuki commented that the plan will facilitate digitalization in health sector.
“Am happy to be involved in the progression that will ensure Kenyans life changes positively via ICT,” Kariuki said.
While KNH Acting Deputy Director Clinical Services Dr Henry Kioko was optimistic with the project and said that people seeking treatment will get faster services in a click of a button as well as doctors going through their record irrespective of distance.
He further said that other hospitals in the nation will have a lesson to learn from KNH.br />
The hospital provides medication care to approximately more than 500,000 patients annually.
An estimated KSh33,720,000 (approx US$ 400,000) will be used for the project sponsored by Rockefeller Foundation.
This is in response to the Poverty Reduction, courtesy of Information and Digital Employment (PRIDE) program by the organization.
Africa’s the Rockefeller Foundation chief executive James Nyoro said the project uses local people by introducing ICT to eradicate poverty.
“While we provide quality services, jobs are created too and it impacts positively in changing the living standards of people,” he said.
This is part of KNC ICT masterplat developed by Kenya ICT Board (KIB) in parternership with Accenture, a technology service provider, to fully digitise the hospital.
Kenya has only two national referral hospitals, namely the Nairobi-based KNH and the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret, west of Kenya.
