AMPATHPlus Demonstrates Medical Records System for National Leaders

The USAID-funded AMPATHPlus program recently hosted a large delegation to facilitate better understanding of the AMPATH Medical Record System (AMRS) used by USAID’s AMPATHPlus in providing care for its clients. The joint delegation included the Ministry of Health, Health Information Systems (HIS), National AIDS and STI Control Programme (NASCOP), and county government representatives from six counties supported by USAID AMPATHPlus.

Participants in the AMPATH Medical Record System (AMRS) Point of Care (POC) system sensitization meeting included the NASCOP Monitoring and Evaluation Director, NASCOP SI & Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, National Ministry of Health representative, representatives from six counties supported by AMPATHPlus and AMPATHPlus staff.

The four-day tour began with an orientation on the point-of-care (POC) electronic medical records (EMR) being used to manage more than 70,000 clients in treatment across the six counties in a centralized and paperless manner. The visit allowed stakeholders a glimpse into the system operations and provided insights into the country’s vision to go paperless in the provision of medical services to patients country-wide.

Professor Sylvester Kimaiyo, AMPATH director of care programs and AMPATHPlus Chief of Party, opened the sensitization meeting in late August at the EKA Hotel in Eldoret.

NASCOP and County teams received a demonstration of the AMRS POC system at Webuye Sub-County Hospital and another team also visited Kitale County Referral Hospital. They appreciated the unique features of AMRS system.

Dr. Violet Oramisi, head of the Strategic Information, Research, and Implementation Science Unit (SIRI), lead the delegation which also included the Kenya Ministry of Health program manager, County Health Records and Information Officers (CHRIOs), County Aids and STI Coordinators (CASCOs) from the AMPATHPlus supported counties of Bungoma, Busia, Elgeyo Marakwet, Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu and West Pokot.

The Ministry of Health promised support in the implementation of the recommended improvements including scalability of the system to other non-HIV related departments, improvement of coverage, sustainability and collaborations, improvement on sensitizing more stakeholders, continuous system improvements for automatic indicator reporting to KHIS, and data use dashboards, as well as actively engaging with other systems to improve on interoperability, sustainability and continuity.

Members of the visiting delegation watch a demonstration of the AMRS POC system at Webuye Sub-County Hospital.