This archive report was first published on 24 November 2019.
On November 24, 2019, the East African Community (EAC) countries of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda embarked on a journey to increase economic integration.
The goal of this integration is to spur unhindered mobility of labour, goods, and services.
However, this aspiration is hindered by several challenges, one of which is the inaccessibility to health services when people move between countries.
Currently, the public health system in these countries is plagued by numerous challenges common to low- and middle-income countries.
One of the major challenges is the lack of electronic interlinking between health facilities, making it difficult to uniquely identify patients and their treatment history when they move from one health facility to another.
Accurate identification of patients and their treatment history is crucial for good patient management.
When patients on long-term treatment migrate from their home in pursuit of work or other reasons, many fall out of the health system.
At their new location, some are taken in as new patients because their treatment history cannot be accessed at the new clinic.
This can result in a host of medical complications and unnecessary costs to the patient.
Part of the solution is to automate and interlink health facilities, enabling them to exchange patient information.
Authorised health providers should be able to access a patient's information in any health facility in the country and in selected health facilities in collaborating countries.
This move will stem the tide of resistance to drugs and promote telemedicine, enabling medical specialists in different countries to electronically provide consultation and treatment to patients in other countries.
