Posted on December, 17, 2018 at 10:10 am
By Nobert Atukunda
Kampala — Medical practitioners have been asked to adopt centralised medical records for effective treatment and avoid wasting patients' time.
The chairperson of the Uganda Protestant Medical Bureau (UPMB), Mr James Mwesigwa, said lack of centralised records have led to inefficiency in the treatment of patients due to lack of their past medical records.
"Bring data together to be able to keep the medical history of patients. Let us embrace the new technology to do so by just a click of a button as this will help medical practitioners to have a record of the people they are handling instead of starting from scratch," Mr Mwesigwa said.
He made the remarks in Kampala yesterday at a meeting about the upcoming Buikwe Community Empowerment Project on use of latest technologies to improve their livelihoods.
The project follows a research in Buikwe District where an American firm, CTI Africa, found that farmers need businesses to improve their livelihoods. The company has pledged to give the farmers insurance offers, mobile banking, microfinance and agricultural education services early next year.
CTI Africa chief executive officer Michael Landau said under the project, the company will venture into centralised medical records by using the Life Mobile application (app) when they start assembling smart phones in the country early next year.
"With this project we shall be able to bring the latest medical technologies pretty much anywhere in the world to the people of Buikwe. Buikwe is just a pilot and hopefully will be able to scale on a national basis," Mr Landau said.
He described Life Mobile app as the "transformation tool for the next generation" because the smart phone will attract big companies to Uganda.
The app will help the farmers access insurances services and help health centres monitor patients' health without making unnecessary repeat visits to the hospitals.
Security
"With insurance, farmers will only have to offer one per cent of their products as insurance so that in case of any uncertainties, they are secured," said Ms Maria Nampijja,the communications officer for CTI Africa.
According to Mr Landau, 95 per cent of the households in Buikwe have no bank accounts, which explains why farmers find difficulties in acquiring loans.
Mr James Ovon, the relationship manager of Eco Bank, said bank accounts issues would be addressed once the project is implemented.
She said the residents will find it easy to send their National Identity Card details to the bank managers using Life Mobile app to open accounts.
Last month, government unveiled CTI Africa to start assembling smart mobile phones in Uganda through the National Enterprises Corporation, which will provide land in Industrial Area where the assembling plant will be built.
Source: Daily Monitor