Expert Advocates For The Digitisation Of Hospital Operations Nationwide
An expert in digital health and Co-Founder Cranium Integrated Solutions Ltd., Dr. Kunle Adesida, has once again emphasized the need for digitisation of hospital operations nationwide.
Adesida made the call in an interview with newsmen on Tuesday in Lagos south-west, Nigeria.
According to him, “There is a need to talk to stakeholders and decision makers on digitisation of hospitals because very soon, hospitals operating manually would go into extinction.”
Adesida’s call closely follows the Federal Government’s establishment of a 20-member committee tasked with executing the Nigeria Digital in Health Initiative (NDHI), aimed at revolutionizing the digital healthcare infrastructure nationwide.
Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, highlighted during the committee’s inauguration that the NDHI initiative is poised to bring about substantial changes in healthcare data management within facilities.
According to him, “The digitalisation of health records will improve patient’s experience, protect patient’s data as well as improve patient’s health outcomes.’’
Adesida emphasized that the digitalization of hospital procedures would enhance healthcare delivery, enabling patients to access medical services conveniently from their homes.
He further noted that this transition would facilitate seamless monitoring of hospital facilities and services.
Adesida highlighted the availability of digital health applications that hospitals could utilize to address the healthcare needs of individuals, including those in underserved areas.
“Adoption of digital health apps, especially the local content solutions will make universal health coverage a reality.
“The adoption of digital health is low globally but proper sensitisation of the benefits will ease the challenge of acceptability.
“Even with the issue of low and unstable internet penetration at the digitally under-served areas, local content solutions will deliver healthcare,” the digital expert said.
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Adesida added that the apps could deliver healthcare with their integrated wearables and point-of-care mobile devices.
“Local content digital solutions such as the Cranium Electronic Health Records (EHR), which my organisation produces, is 100 percent customisable to the desire and requirements of the nation’s health facilities and gives them full ownership of their data.
“The COVID-19 pandemic heightened the need for digitalisation and again, many people started seeing the need to go digital and CraniumEHR has been in this space since 2005,” he said.
Adesida also mentioned that the local content system of digital applications makes it highly feasible for hospitals to customize them according to their specific preferences and needs.
He said it helped them have full access privileges to the database locally hosted on the hospital’s Local Area Network and mirrored on secured cloud servers owned by Cranium, which was also Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC)-compliant.
“Cranium is leveraging on blockchain and Artificial intelligence that enables patients access health care and data in any location or hospital the patient walks into with the newly-added patient biometric cards,” he said.
Mr. Adekunle Adebanjo, the Director of Planning at Cranium Integrated Solution Limited, underscored the importance of safeguarding patients’ data while utilizing health applications.
He emphasized that for any digital health solution, strict adherence to national and technical compliance regulations is essential, a principle Cranium prioritizes.
Additionally, he highlighted the potential for digital health apps to boost the hospital’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) by up to 65% within 30 days post-deployment.
“When talking about health data, we are talking about sensitive data, data that should not be seen by any unauthorised individual.
“So, the advantage of using software is that it is efficient and secure,” he said.
