Bertha Gxowa Hospital has rolled out the first phase of the health information system (HIS).

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The project is being rolled out at all Gauteng health facilities.

The scope of the project includes primary healthcare, community healthcare centres as well as academic, tertiary, regional and district hospitals in the province.

“The HIS will enable the Department of Health facilities to capture patient health records electronically,” said Patrick Sello, head of the Gauteng Department of Health’s information and communication technology projects.

“The information captured on the HIS at one health facility will also be available at another facility that utilises the system. Our patients can, therefore, consult at any of our healthcare facilities.

This decrease in multiple registrations will result in reduced patient waiting time.

“The objective of the system is to ensure that the patient files become accessible via the electronic platform, which means that the problem of loss of files will ultimately become a thing of the past.”

With the new HIS, all administrative information on the patient will be accessed on the system.

Clinicians will be able to capture data such as vital signs electronically.

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Sello said HIS will integrate into all existing systems that are utilised by the Gauteng Department of Health.
One of the key integrations of HIS is the South African Home Affairs Department.

“This will allow for the patients to be properly identified if they do not produce the required identity documentation or to verify the IDs produced.

“The HIS will also integrate with the South African National Blood Services,” said Sello.