Health care practitioners in Kenya should shift their focus from transactional to that of ensuring that their service delivery is of value, cost effective and fits the needs and wellbeing of the patients, health experts have said.
This has led to the launch of Green Cross Network which seeks to replace the current medics-centered system that is about dispensing prescriptions and making sales with one that is more concerned about the wellbeing of the patient.
Speaking on Wednesday during the launch of the network system, the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya (PSK) President, Dr. Louis Machogu said that lack of patient data would now be a thing of the past.
“From the first time you walk into a Green Cross Pharmacy outlet, our data will be logged in and from then on, your prescription information will be accessible between your doctor and pharmacist within the network,” said Dr. Machogu.
The network currently consists of 46 pharmacies of which three are county facilities and have undergone a thorough and continuous accreditation process to ensure they were well equipped to address the current gaps in healthcare provision.
According to Dr. Machogu, Green Cross Network has partnered with SMART International which is a provider of biometric reader and SMART Card services that verifies the identity and manages utilization of users of over 20 medical benefits and insurance service providers from over 2, 500 healthcare providers. This partnership will boost their efforts of increasing access points to at least five pharmacies in a year’s time.
He said that PSK has introduced comprehensive Pharmaceutical Care and Services Indicators that will enable the industry to shift its focus from dispensing prescription to tracking parameters such as impact of medicine and reaction or resistance to the medication on patients.
“For the first time in Kenya, we are moving from the usage of dispensing medicines and sales indicators to tracking and improving on structures that ensures that the prescribed medicine is treating and preventing disease and complications which is cost effective,” Dr. Machogu added.
It is also taking a variety of care from being self-driven to being value-based, adopting the lessons from success in the HIV/AIDS Programme by Ministry of Health and Development Partners, through standardization of care and collaboration with group purchase and practice, learnings and knowledge sharing, information flow and indicators for measuring success.
Green Cross Network is a robust platform that prioritizes patients’ needs by encouraging participatory and collaborative relationships between providers in the healthcare value chain and patients with an aim of improving the quality of their healthcare.
By Judith Mshimba/Elizabeth Wambui
