KATHMANDU, JULY 18
Despite cardiovascular diseases being the leading cause of death and disability in Nepal, Sahid Gangalal National Heart Centre lacks proper electronic collection of data, food delivery and clothing.
A team of South Korean doctors led by Dr Kim Woong Han, professor at Seoul National University College of Medicine, Director of JW LEE Centre for Global Medicine, and chief of Hospital Volunteers told THT that Nepal needs to upgrade its data recording system for the betterment of the health system.
"I found that the SGNHC still lacks the facility of recording the data of patients, food delivery system and clothing," said Dr Kim Woong Han."It is very important for the hospital to keep record of patients. It not only helps in the study, it also saves time and money of patients."
A research paper on Medical Documentation in Lowand Middle-income Countries: Lessons Learned from Implementing Specialized Charting Software states, "The implementation of electronic health record software at healthcare facilities in lowand middle-income countries is limited by financial and technological constraints."
It further reads that a total of 162 institutions (19.2 per cent) responded to the survey. Most institutions employed paper charting (64.2 per cent) or institutional EHR software (25.9 per cent) for data entry during a patient encounter with the latter's use varying significantly across geographical subgroups (P = 0.01). STX was used by 18 institutions (11.1 per cent) during a patient encounter.
Dr Kim's team has found a similar trend in Nepal. He said that patient records in Nepal, including in SGNHC, are now managed with only paper.
"Patients carry the records, and manage to keep records themselves. It is essential to collect patient data at the hospital level to clearly understand how much the patient's condition has improved after treatment and what treatment is needed in the future," said Dr Kim.
He said that the government needs to bring change in the policy to rectify the situation in a national hospital like Sahid Gangalal National Heart Centre. Upgradation in the system of the SGNHC could help in the digitisation and upgrade of the quality of the health services in the hospital and all over the nation. According to him, there are no other educational programmes at Shahid Gangalal National Heart Centre besides their Cardiac Capacity Building programme from Korea.
Therefore, it is necessary to support capacity building of the health workforce at SGNHC for them to provide continuous health service to Nepali children.
He said, "The health workforce at SGN- HC would eagerly participate in education for their cardiac surgical capabilities and patient care. However, Nepal has a substantial shortage of trained healthcare workers for CVD care."
According to the research on Health system gaps in cardiovascular disease prevention and management in Nepal, 2021, the ratio of doctors and nurses per 10,000 population is 8.9 and 20.8, respectively. The distribution of health professionals by provinces is 60 per cent of the doctors, 80 per cent pharmacists and 38 per cent nurses working in the private sector. Which is not good for the health system of any country.
