Ministry of Health has rolled out a unified medical system that will consolidate health records from all public hospitals in the country in one platform.
The new system called tibERbu, a product of the Konza Technopolis Innovation ecosystem, will act as a single source of information for medical practitioners and will allow them to pull patient digital records during hospital visits enabling health workers to save time and enhance medical diagnosis.
According to the Ministry of Health, the system covers various service points in the hospital including; registration, triage, out-patient, in-patient, and specialist clinics. It will also cover other support services like billing and inventory.
Speaking in Kericho while attending the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) expo, Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha said that the system has been developed locally in line with Kenya's long-term health goals.
“Our overall goal in health is to have equitable and affordable healthcare at the highest achievable standard to Kenyans. The implementation of this novel digital health system is informed by the strategies and results emanating from various policies including the Kenya E-Health Policy 2016-2030, health sector strategic plans, the e-Government as well as Shared Services Strategies rolled out through the e-Government Directorate and the ICT Board respectively,” said CS Nakhumicha.
According to the Health CS, the system has been designed with strict authentication to protect patient data.
“Access to the system is based on user access rights. One must have a username and password to access the system. Users of the system have different privileges based on their roles in the system,” she said.
She further explained that the system is ideal for use by medical practitioners at the county level such as; doctors, nurses, pharmacists, clinical officers, lab technicians, and Health Records Information Officers.
Speaking at the same event, Lucas Omollo the Konza Technopolis Development Authority Manager said that the system's two components comprising Primary Care Network (PCN) and Electronic Medical Record (EMR), have already been rolled out to various health centres across the country.
Meanwhile, the government is implementing a raft of strategies aimed at realizing the country's Universal Health Coverage (UHC) plan.
This includes deploying community health workers across the country to enhance access to healthcare.
CS Nakhumicha has said that the government has set aside Ksh48 million to pay stipends to Community Health Promoters to recognize their contribution to the health sector.
