Computerize hospitals for efficient health care delivery

Participants at a day's consultative stakeholders meeting in Accra to discuss "the role of ICT in health care delivery" on Wednesday made a strong case for computerization of internet connectivity system to exist among hospitals in the country for efficient health care delivery.

The participants, who were drawn from both public and private health institutions in the country, also called for Information Communication Technology (ICT) courses to be made part of the curriculum of the country's medical and health training institutions to equip the students with knowledge on its application to deliver quality service to patients.

Chaired by Professor Ofosu Armah, formerly of the School of Public Health Legon, and organized by the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, the meeting explored the potential and actual use of ICT in health care delivery in the country and examined ways in which ICT could help strengthen the pillars of the country's health care delivery system.

Participants were of the view that when the hospitals were computerized and inter-connectivity made possible among them, it would make diagnosis and health care delivery to patients easy and quicker at anywhere in the country.

Currently, apart from using the manual system, health training institutions and hospitals in the country do not have ICT interconnectivity system to allow doctors to track medical records of patients easily.

It therefore, called for action to be expedited on the country's ICT policy to ensure that the problem was addressed to make health care delivery more efficient.