Rivers State government has applauded an indigenous oil firm, Renaissance America Energy Company Limited, for upgrading the Obio Cottage Hospital, Rumuobiakani, Port Harcourt, to transit from paper documentation of patient information to digital documentation for effective and accurate record keeping.
Acting permanent secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Vincent Wachuku, gave the commendation yesterday while commissioning the newly established electronic medical records system (EMR) at the hospital.
He commended the firm for upgrading what used to be a healthcare centre to a cottage hospital, saying that it should be revitalised into a more modern facility.
The acting permanent secretary charged staff to embrace the new innovation and begin to offer more efficient, effective and satisfactory services to the patients who come to seek medical care in the facility, adding that the electronic medical record system will enhance their prompt response to patients and make it a seamless effort in service delivery.
Wachuku reassured that the state government will partner with the indigenous oil firm at every level to ensure that proper medical care is rendered to the people of the state, especially the vulnerable ones.
Earlier in his welcome address, the general manager, Relations and Sustainable Development,
Renaissance, Mr. Igo Weli said over the years there has been an increase in demand for health services , making the need for efficiency and innovation in patient management more critical than ever.
Well said, “Today’s event presents a leap forward to quality healthcare delivery in the state.”
He noted that decades ago, medical records were manually documented, and despite its merits, this has often posed big challenges such as inefficient retrieval of patient history, risk of misplaced records, slower decision-making, increased administrative workload on healthcare providers, and longer patient waiting time.
The general manager stated that introducing an electronic medical records system in the hospital will save the planet by reducing the carbon footprint caused by paper use and lowering greenhouse emissions.
