Nurses among other health workers in Murang’a County have received training on how to use the Health Management Information System (HMIS) as the county seeks to automate service delivery in all 157 health facilities across the county.
The system which is the first of its kind in public hospitals in the country was officially launched at Murang’a level 5 referral Hospital in July 2023 and has been in operation since then.
Murang’a County Nursing officer Salome Kimani speaking to KNA said that they have trained nurses and selected other health workers from sub-county hospitals, health centres and dispensaries to effectively operationalize the automation of the system.
“The Governor recently instructed the County Executive Committee (CEC) member in charge of health to fast-track the automation in all health facilities across the County in a bid to improve the delivery of health services,” said Kimani.
“The digitization of the healthcare system will enable the healthcare facilities to record and store health data of all patients so that it can be retrieved and processed to improve decision-making and service delivery,” she added.
Kimani explained that patients will no longer be required to carry physical books and forms like they used to previously when seeking services from the hospitals, a move she said is relief for both patients and healthcare providers.
“The system will aid in treatment as doctors and nurses will easily access and retrieve the medical histories of patients and it will also ease the referral process from the smaller hospitals to the level five hospital,” she said.
She noted that Murang’a Level 5 referral hospital is already fully automated and is paperless and the ongoing automation exercise targets the remaining 156 healthcare facilities in the county.
Kimani added that the system will also help monitor the consumption of various drugs and help in restocking those drugs as required.
The nurses were also trained on the process of renewing Kang’ata Care insurance details for beneficiaries with the process expected to start on September 4 unto September 9.
Kang’ata Care is a comprehensive insurance cover that is a partnership between the county government and the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) that currently serves 20,000 households focusing on the elderly, people with chronic illnesses, orphaned children and other vulnerable members of society.
“Since the insurance period is running for one year, we are entering a period of renewal of the current beneficiaries,” said Kimani adding that the renewal process will be done at the health facilities where the details of the beneficiaries will be entered into the system.
Kimani further said that to improve maternal care in the county, the nurses were also trained on the process of onboarding expectant mothers into the automated system for the maternal support program.
The maternal support program gives the pregnant mother a total of Sh. 3,000 and is aimed at facilitating maternal and child health by encouraging the mothers to attend antenatal care as well as deliver in health facilities.
By Anita Omwenga and Purity Mugo
