shloboe boe
Rumbidzayi Zinyuke, Harare Bureau
ZIMBABWE is ramping up efforts to connect all health facilities to the internet to support the rollout of the Impilo, an electronic health record system.
This ambitious initiative is part of a broader digital health strategy aimed at modernising healthcare infrastructure.
Impilo is a system designed to improve efficiency in the health sector through enhancing data collection, management, patients’ care as well as improve communication between health practitioners and patients.
Deputy director in the Ministry of Health and Child Care’s health informatics and data analytics department, Dr Robert Gongora, said while progress has been made in implementing the programme in 1 179 facilities in 45 districts across the country, connectivity remained a challenge.
“We are harnessing the ever-improving technologies that give us internet connectivity,” he said.
“While we had distributed our servers at each facility to enable electronic service delivery and data capturing, but for a person to then move from one service point to another especially if it’s at different health facilities, you need to have connectivity between the two points.
“In the rural areas, it becomes harder because some of those technologies are not giving us the sufficient bandwidth that we require.”
Dr Gongora said they started with the earlier versions of internet technology but because the low earth orbit-based satellite-based internet now coming in and already approved, the Ministry had latched onto it to give the encessary broadband connectivity in rural clinics and hospitals.
“And we are on an accelerated programme to make sure that all of our health facilities are connected,” he said.
The Ministry of Health started distributing the new internet technologies to facilities last year and there was hope that every facility would be connected to ensure that a patient’s record can follow them seamlessly between facilities and health service providers. This means that wherever a patient goes, the clinic or hospital can access the entire up-to-date medical records for that patient.
Dr Gongora said improved connectivity would also expedite the rollout of telemedicine in all health institutions.
Telemedicine is the use of electronic and telecommunication technology to deliver clinical care remotely, ensuring that people receive healthcare when needed, especially for those with limited access.
Added Dr Gongora: “We are also going to ride on the connectivity that is coming to offer telehealth through a platform called Impilo-Engage.
“Engage will enable a patient to look for a health service provider and book an appointment, get your prescription filled and you can even have it delivered to you.’’
