Kenya Launches Medical Records Unification System

Konza Technopolis and the Ministry of Health have unveiled a new medical system designed to unify medical records in public hospitals across the country.

Known as tibERbu, the system is also expected to provide a single point of information for doctors and nurses to access patient digital records during hospital visits, thus saving time and enhancing medical diagnosis.

tibERbu, a product of the Konza Technopolis Innovation ecosystem, was showcased for the first time to members of the public in Kericho during the Health Day in the week leading up to Mashujaa celebrations.

Lucas Omollo, Konza Technopolis Development Authority Manager, ICT & Smart City Facilities said that tibERbu will revolutionize the medical sector with its two components comprising Primary Care Network (PCN) and Electronic Medical Record (EMR), which have been successfully rolled out to various health centres across the country.

“tibERbu covers various service points in the hospital including Registration, Triage, Out-Patient Department (OPD), In-Patient Department (IPD), Specialist Clinics and other support services like billing, and inventory. It enables doctors to retrieve various reports from the system for efficient clinical decision making among others when running hospitals and managing patients,” he said.

Omollo added that the new development was in line with the Life Science strategic focus for Konza Technopolis which has been set to provide an enabling environment for scientific breakthroughs and innovations in bioscience and the health industry, with the goal of positioning Kenya as a leader in life Science in Africa.

“Our aim is to collaborate for Better Health through appropriate partnerships with key stakeholders in achieving universal healthcare goals hence positively impacting the local community by improving local healthcare access and quality, Omollo added.

Outlining the import of the medical system, Health Ministry Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha explained that it had been locally developed in line with the Kenya National E-Health Strategy which is anchored on the achievement of Vision 2030.

“Our overall goal in health is to have equitable and affordable healthcare at the highest achievable standard to Kenyans. The implementation of this novel digital health system is informed by the strategies and results emanating from various policies including the Kenya E-Health Policy 2016-2030, health sector strategic plans, the e-Government as well as Shared Services Strategies rolled out through the e-Government Directorate and the ICT Board respectively,” said Ms Nakhumicha.

She noted that tibERbu is suitable for use by Sub- County and county Human Resources for Health (HRH) (including Health Records Information Officers (HRIOs), Medical Superintendents, Doctors, Nurses, Clinical Officers, Pharmacists, Radiologists, Lab technicians), County staff ICT officers, records officers, cashiers, accountants, NGOs working in the health industry and across the Ministry of Health offices.

To protect patient data, she explained that the system has been designed with strict authentication. “Access to the system is based on user access rights. One must have a username and password to access the system. Users of the system have different privileges based on their roles in the system,” she said.