The Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC), has donated over 116 computers and accessories worth GH?400,000.00, to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), to roll out to its Nursing Informatics Project in 10 districts nationwide.
The project, which will be on pilot basis, will ensure digitizing the process of collecting patient and client data at the Out Patients Departments of health facilities for effective and efficient health service delivery.
Beneficiary hospitals are Saltpond Municipal Hospital, Half Assini Government Hospital, Tafo Government Hospital, Kumasi, Kibi Government hospital, Sogakope Government Hospital, Jaman North Hospital, Sampa, Sisala East District, Tumu, War Memorial, Navrongo, West Hospital, Tamale, Ga South Hospital and Legon Hospital.
Each district hospital will receive nine computers and its accessories with UPS, whilst Legon Hospital will receive three computers.
The Registrar of the NMC, Mr Felix Nyante, said the computerization would improve patient information sharing among health teams and reduce time spent on documentation.
He explained that the computers were installed with software that contains information on all diseases and caters for the five stages of nursing process - assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation.
To ensure its sustainability, the Council has incorporated the Nursing Informatics into the nursing and midwifery training colleges’ curricula to equip student-nurses with the usage of the software.
Mr Nyante noted that the one year project was initially piloted at the Achimota hospital and Cocoa Clinic in Accra and was proved successful.
“It improved patient information sharing among the health teams and also reduced time spent on documentation”.
Mr Nyante commended GIFEC for their generosity in donating the computers and their accessories and assured that they would be put to good use to serve its purpose.
Mr Edmund Nyarko, Assistant Technical Manager of GIFEC, said GIFEC went round the nation to assess the effect of the paper work at the health facilities on documentation and realized the need for computerization to speed up processes and enable them to spend more time with the patients.
He pledged that if the pilot project proved successful, GIFEC would provide 2000 more computers and its accessories to scale it up nationwide.
He explained that work on the ICT Policy for Ghana started in October 1998, when a National Communications Policy Conference dubbed, COMPOL ‘98’ involving all stakeholders in the ICT sector was held at the International Conference Centre in Accra.
He said the policy document was finalised in October 2000 at Akosombo for the approval of Cabinet. However, Cabinet could not pass the Communications Bill before the then government went out of power.
Mr Nyarko said in September 2001, the government organised another National Communications Policy Conference, at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), to review and update the Communication Policy Document formulated by the previous government in 1998.
He said the formulation of a comprehensive ICT Policy, known as Ghana Information and Communication Technology for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD), was completed and the result is what is today referred to as Ghana ICT Policy for Accelerated Development.
Under the Ghana ICT Policy for Accelerated Development, the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), (formerly the Ghana Investment Fund for Telecommunications (GIFTEL)) was created as an implementing agency of the Ministry of Communications, in January 2004.
It was to facilitate the provision of ICT, Internet connectivity, and infrastructure to underserved and un-served areas of the country.
Mr Nyarko said in July 2004, the Government of Ghana set up Ghana Investment Fund for Telecommunications (GIFTEL) as an agency of the Ministry of Communications to facilitate the provision of universal access to basic telephony by the unserved and underserved communities in the country.
He said the Electronic Communications Act 775 promulgated in 2008, gave the legal backing to the agency (which started operations in January 2005), and changed the agency’s name to the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC).
He said it widened the scope of its mandate to include the provision of access to electronic services including ICT, broadcasting, internet, multimedia service and basic telephony, by the unserved and underserved communities in Ghana.
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