Liberia, a country that gained independence on July 26, 1847, an independent country for over 174 years, has faced and continues to face a serious data management problem in the health sector. The Ministry of Health has the mandate of formulating, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating health policies, plans, and standards. Sadly, with the data management problem the Ministry and its health care providers are faced with, I think they have fallen short of this mandate.
The need for a proper data management system in the health sector of Liberia cannot be over emphasized. Due to a poor data management system, forgetting a hospital card can sometimes be an economic burden for some patients who would have to purchase a new hospital card that typically costs between $2 USD – $ 5 USD; mind you, Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world where data shows that the average citizen lives on less than a dollar per day. It also results in a delay in treatment time for a patient, a delay that can at times be fatal.
Due to the poor data management problem in the Liberian health sector, doctors sometimes have difficulties in making diagnosis especially when a patient’s case is an emergency. There will be no time to check the high volume of physical folders to find that specific file which belongs to that individual – an event that might lead to that patient receiving the wrong treatment or the wrong diagnosis.
The control and management of medication data has always been a problem. There are a series of medication problems patients are faced with ranging from doctors writing a prescription and the pharmacy lacking such tablets, to a high number of expired drugs in the country. These situations can be very detrimental to the health of patients. The poor management of data sometimes causes employees’ stress level to rise, a situation that causes a psychological and functional disconnect in the workplace. A nurse who should be working on an admitted patient will have to leave to join other colleagues in the record room to search for another patient’s record. Additionally, in the case of natural disasters (eg. fire, water, etc.) Liberia’s health sector will be massively crippled because physical documents will be damaged. In the case of a healthcare facility being relocated, the possibility of misplacing patients’ documents is extremely high.
According to the GIZ, Liberia faced a serious disease surveillance and data processing problem during the 2014 Ebola crisis, a reason why it was difficult to identify initial cases. I believe that Liberia’s success in fighting against epidemics and pandemics is reliant on the proper management of data. The website of the Ministry of Health lacks proper data management and presentation. The website should be able to tell its visitors recognized health facilities, licensed health practitioners, etc. which will serve as a key source of decision making information. Additionally, Macrotrends reports that the infant mortality rate for Liberia in 2021 was 49.752 deaths per 1000 live births. Based on all the aforementioned scenarios, it can be seen that a proper data management system will lead to a reduction in this rate.
I think the solution to all these and a lot of other problems the health sector of Liberia faces is the adoption and integration of a database. A database management system is characterized as the software framework that permits users to indicate, create, maintain, and control access.
The adoption and integration of a database will bring about the following benefits:
- Unlike the traditional way of storing records using a non-digital medium, the integration of a database system will secure patients’ data as access will be given to only authorized users, instead of every employee.
- Records will be easily managed and synchronized; an integrated database will cut across all business organizations/departments in the facility.
- There will be no need for a patient to go from office to office to get documents signed; an integrated data will take care of that in less time.
- It will minimize data inconsistency, as it won’t allow double input unlike the traditional record management system that allows an individual to have double folders just because he/she misplaced his/her previous card.
- Through the queries and report functions in a database, there will be no need to spend much time searching for patient records and this will improve decision making. A doctor will have an accessible and informed treatment history of a patient no matter which hospital that patient visits.
- Data will be easily recovered and backed-up in time of natural disasters, something a traditional medium of data management won’t do.
- The system will also be very user friendly; all information will be transparent as patients will be able to see all information through the creation of a user account.
Liberia’s health sector has been experiencing the consequences of a bad record management system. If the health ministry is to achieve its mission of reforming and managing the sector to effectively and efficiently deliver comprehensive and quality health services that are equitable, accessible and sustainable for all the people in Liberia, the adoption and integration of a database will be a key catalyst.
Authored by Godfred Boakai Kaneh
You did a great job.