Economy

Women medics launch digital healthcare link

Thursday September 19 2013

A doctor attends to a patient. The software would digitise management of medical records and appointments, reducing paperwork. FILE

The Kenya Medical Women’s Association (Kemwa) has launched a digital health care management system linking clinics across the country.

Kemwa has partnered with Dactari Health to have its 400 members incorporate the Afya Digital Doctor (ADD) software to digitise outpatient services, freeing up doctors to attend to patients.

“ADD is going to make services in clinics especially in rural areas more efficient. Doctors handle front office tasks desk and manage medicine stocks. More patients can be attended to when the time taken on mundane tasks is reduced,” said Kemwa chairperson Praxedes Okutoyi.

Dr Okutoyi said the software would digitise management of medical records and appointments, reducing paperwork.

The software also enables doctors to send automated reminders to patients via text messages about appointments and results of medical tests. The system would also interlink the member clinics for the health specialists to share knowledge.

“A patient with a gynaecological problem in Kisumu can get real time feedback from a specialist in Nairobi without having to travel, saving costs and time,” Dr Okutoyi said.

Dactari Health chief strategy officer Emily Obwaka said e partnership could help Kenya achieve the goal of improving access to quality healthcare if expanded to most public and private health facilities.