KATH Goes Electronic 

By Daily Guide

THE KOMFO Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi has started work of using electronic system to capture medical records of patients who access health at the hospital.

The Georgia Southern University of USA is collaborating with personnel of KATH to embark on the strenuous project which is currently being piloted at the Biostatistics Unit of KATH.

The pilot project is expected to last for three weeks and based on its success, it would be extended to the entire hospital which is the largest medical facility in the northern sector of Ghana.

Modern high speed scanners are being used to capture the date of all patients who have visited the hospital since its inception to date, Dr Daniel Ansong, senior lecturer and deputy director of R&D, KATH, told DAILY GUIDE.

He said the completion of the project would enhance and expedite the provision of healthcare that would be administered to patients visiting the hospital on daily basis.

Dr Ansong noted that the current problem of struggling to allocate patients cards, would be eliminated, adding, the electronic system would afford KATH enough space as the millions of old files at the hospital would be cleared.

He explained also that the electronic system has back-up systems which automatically store the data of patients, stressing that the completion of the project would indeed promote the work of KATH. Dr Ansong said since the construction of the hospital over 50 years ago, pen and books have been used to capture the data of patients, noting that the trend posed several challenges to the hospital.

As part of the new project, he added that the old records of patients which have been generated would be scanned and synchronised with the current records being generated at the hospital electronically. Lauding the electronic system of storing patients' data, he said the completion of the project would help protect data of KATH patients even in times of unexpected disaster.

 FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi