Online Reporter
Victor Maphosa
Mashonaland East Bureau
In a major milestone aimed at enhancing quality health service delivery to the people, the Government has bought Starlink kits for all clinics across Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe (UMP) District.
All the 18 clinics in the district and one district hospital will receive the kits.
The health institutions will be connected to the internet, a major milestone in improving healthcare service delivery to the people.
In an interview, UMP district medical officer Dr Gladman Tendai Mubonani thanked the Government for the gesture.
“The district recently received Starlink kits from the Government. We collected the 18 kits from Harare this week,” he said.
“In addition, we received three kits from our development partner. The council also bought another kit for the newly opened Nyagande Clinic, as well as two other clinics in Pfungwe that we intend to open soon.
“The Member of Parliament of Maramba Pfungwe Cde Tichaona Karumazondo also bought and donated a kit to the information department for Mutawatawa Hospital and also paid the installation fee.”
Dr Mubonani said the kits are a major milestone for UMP District.
“As for the 18 kits, we have an arrangement with our local authority whereby they will fund the installation of these kits across the 18 facilities,” he said.
“This is a major milestone in the history of the UMP District. The district is a pioneer in electronic health records.
“Now, instead of having a district server, we want to go live with our electronic health records, meaning data will be uploaded onto the Ministry of Health and Child Care server in real time. This is a major achievement in the plan by the Ministry of Health and Child Care to go paperless on electronic health records.”
He outlined the advantages of having health institutions connected digitally.
“The benefits of having internet in these clinics are many. Apart from having electronic health records, it improves connectivity and communication in the hospital and various clinics across the district.
“As you might know, the district has some areas that face challenges with the mobile network. So with the coming in of Starkink kits, there will be easy communication. This means we will be reducing patient waiting time at the clinics. When we have an emergency at the clinic, they can quickly call the hospital via the internet connection and an ambulance will be immediately dispatched.
“This gesture will definitely improve the quality of care,” he said
Dr Mubonani added that the Government is working on a telemedicine initiative and internet connectivity is becoming key.
“So instead of referring everyone to the district hospital, the clinics are now able to communicate with doctors easily,” he said.
“We would like to thank the Second Republic for this development and we wish they continue supporting us as we advance the electronic health records and telemedicine agenda.”
