08 Aug 2018

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Ms Ruth Maphorisa, has expressed gratitude to Botswana Harvard Partnership (BHP) for its continued support in improving efficiencies in Botswana’s health system through improved data management.

She was speaking at the handover ceremony of ICT equipment by the BHP to the Ministry on Tuesday in Gaborone. Ms Maphorisa said her ministry’s efficiency was dependable on how quickly they leveraged on technology,decrying however that  majority of their facilities had been using manual registers and forms to manage patient care.

As a result, she said, that had  compromised the quality of patient care and data so electronic registers had to be developed to improve data collection at facilities. In 2006, BHP then developed the  e-registers known as the Masa application software and other related programmes for the ministry.

However, electronic data grew beyond the Masa application capabilities over the years which ultimately saw the birth of the Patient Information Management Information System (PIMS I) still by BHP and deployed to several health facilities across the country as an upgrade of the Masa application software.

She noted that PIMPS II was a stand-alone application software that continued to grow to meet other data needs within a facility, but at the time, PIMS II rollout was restricted by the limited number of computers within the ministry’s facilities.

“Realising this gap, BHP, a key implementing partner of the MoHW and Centre for Disease Control (CDC) Botswana, started procuring computers and network devices for MoHW. In 2014, BHP donated 485 desktop computers, 175 printers, 100 wireless access points- totaling approximately P4million,” Ms Maphorisa highlighted.

She further said in 2015, BHP offered the ministry ICT equipment for the rollout of PIMS II version 3.

“I am therefore delighted to receive this year’s donation amounting to over P2million that in no doubt will improve our existing ICT infrastructure and reporting.

These include 305 desktop computers, 140 printers, 102 uninterruptible power supply and 100 wireless access points,” she added.

For his part, CEO of Botswana Harvard Partnership, Dr Joseph Makhema, said BHP had been a prime stakeholder in the development of the Patient Information Management Information System development, rollout, capacity building (training and mentoring) and support initiatives since 2008.

He said to date, previous versions of PIMS II had been installed in over 310 health facilities.

Currently, he said, efforts were underway to roll out the latest version of PIMS II (version 4.0); a project which entails upgrading facilities which were on the earlier versions of PIMS to version 4.0, as well as expanding to new facilities.

The effort would culminate in computerization of health facilities in more than 400 health facilities countrywide.

Dr Makhema further noted that consistent with BHP’s partnership with MoHW, BHP was complementing the ministry’s efforts to roll out PIMS countrywide by conducting phased rollout in close to 250 clinics and health posts in greater Gaborone, South East, Kgatleng, Kweneng East, and greater Francistown among others.

He said the rollout would be accompanied by training and mentoring capacity building initiatives for 1 100 health care workers on efficient utilisation of PIMS II to meet the MoHW mandate.

Procurement is already in progress for additional equipment for use in upcoming roll out phases with an expected value of P1.5 million.

Between 2013 and 2017, BHP has made donations of 975 desktops, 353 printers, 275 CPU’s, 240 wireless access points valued over P8 million to the Ministry of Health and Wellness. ENDS