Digital health records system in pilot phase

Ministry of Health and Sanitation has rolled out a digital health records system to eventually replace the use of hard-copy health passport books to access services from public health facilities.

Known as the Malawi Health Care Information System (Mahis), the system is under pilot phase at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (Qech) in Blantyre and selected health centres nationwide.

Ministry of Health and Sanitation director of quality management and digital health Andrew Gonani, speaking in an interview after the Malawi University of Science and Technology (Must) Electronic Medical Record Innovation Challenge in Blantyre yesterday, said the system will improve healthcare delivery by ensuring that patients’ medical records are readily available to health workers.

He said the use of hard-copy health passport books presents several challenges, including patients losing their passports or failing to have them when seeking medical attention, which compromises continuity of care.

Said Gonani: “When patient records are lost or unavailable, health workers may not have access to the patient’s previous medical history, making it difficult to provide continuous and effective care.

“So, with the new digital system, patients will no longer need to take their health passports to hospitals because their information will be available in the system. We hope that within the next year or so, most health facilities across the country will be digitised.”

He said patients visiting any public health facility will provide their details to the registry where the system would generate a unique identifier for each patient. He said the identifier and the patient’s medical information will be stored on a server connected to health facilities across the country through an interoperability layer, enabling authorised health workers to access patient information when required.

A check at Qech’s outpatient department yesterday found the digital health system already operational.

Patients whose details were already captured did not require to produce their health passport books. However, first-time patients had their details captured before being registered in the digital system and issued with a barcode as an indication of their registration.

Malawi Health Equity Network executive director George Jobe said the transition to electronic health records has the potential to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare.

He said the system will reduce the loss of medical information and improve continuity of care, particularly during emergencies such as disasters and road traffic accidents, when quick access to a patient’s medical history could be critical.

The ministry is currently using TNM plc and Airtel Malawi plc networks to support the system. However, plans are underway to incorporate Starlink internet services to strengthen connectivity and ensure reliable access to the digital health system.

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