By KT Reporter
Uganda is seeking collaboration with Russia to strengthen its medical referral system, which is currently hindered by the reliance on paper records, making it difficult for medical workers to effectively track patients’ medical histories.
While attending a high-level meeting in Moscow at the side-lines of Russian Healthcare Week that runs until December 6th, Dr. Joseph Okware, the Director of Governance and Regulation in the Ministry of Health revealed that key areas in which Uganda needs the intervention of the Russian Federation include infectious diseases, strengthening emergency medical services, electronic medical records and training healthcare specialists.
Already, Okware reveals that the government of the Russian Federation has already supported laboratory work by donating mobile laboratory trucks which are mainly used to respond to disease outbreaks.
At the meeting, Prof Mikhail Murashko asked attending countries to list the areas of interest where they would like to collaborate with the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation after delivering his address that highlighted the structure of the Russian Healthcare system.
“We have continued to send relevant experts from Uganda to have discussions on the technical areas we agreed upon in that conference. But on our radar, we also need to learn from Russia on how you have managed to build a good system for handling emergencies like accidents,” Dr. Okware told the meeting adding that the issue of electronic medical records needs urgent improvement to match Russia which he said is very advanced.
According to him, being accurate with records helps in making medical decisions promptly and eliminates unnecessary repeats. Uganda launched the digital health system in 2023 but at a recent meeting, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health Dr. Diana Atwine revealed that they hadn’t yet made reasonable strides due to challenges of power outages in addition to the fact that many health workers are not willing to change to electronic systems.
Dr. Okware is accompanied by Dr. Juliet Birungi, Consultant Gyne-oncologist working at the Mulago Specialised Women and Neonatal Hospital. The 5-day Russian Health Week 2024 is being held at the ExpoCentre in Moscow and has attracted international health sector players to showcase the various advancements in health care in their respective countries-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
