'E-tracker application to improve Ghana Health delivery service'

As part of efforts to improve Ghana’s health delivery system, the Ghana Health Service, Simprints, Millenium Promise Alliance have held a two-day training for key personnel in the government health management sector on how to use the e-tracker application.

The two-day event gave health service workers insight into the Simprint’s application with biometric capability to kickstart its implementation which will help the Ghana Health service run smoothly.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Services (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye touched on how helpful the innovation would be to Ghana’s Health System.

“I believe that this initiative in the long term will ensure unique patient records created without risk of disease transmission among health workers and patients, reliable data on the number of individuals immunized which leads to more precise coverage rates and faster intervention, avoidance of duplicate records through biometric verification, which can prevent unnecessary double dosing (wasting precious supply), and creating important time and cost savings," he said.

“As part of the rollout, the GHS has identified and selected an initial 10 health facilities in 2 districts in the Eastern Region for the first phase over the next 9 months. An additional 10 facilities will be included within the phase to demonstrate other modalities of the biometrics technology. The facilities will be resourced with mobile handheld devices, biometric scanners, facial recognition software and internet boosters to create the enabling environment for a successful demonstration.”

The MPA Country Director, Chief Nathaniel Ebo Nsarko also added, “Frontline health workers spend 40% of the time on data management, according to an estimate by the policy, planning, monitoring and evaluation unit of the Ghana Health Service (GHS). The GHS therefore, as part of implementing government’s policy on digitization rolled out, as a pilot, the e-tracker solution for electronic surveillance of TB, HIV AIDS ART and Material and Child Health services (MCH) including antenatal care, postnatal care, delivery and family planning, all these is to make the sector attractive.”

Simprints, a non-profit technology company with expertise in biometric technology, software development, and healthcare delivery for the last mile, in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and Millenium Promise Alliance with support from Gavi is rolling out the world’s first biometric technology designed for frontline workers with contact and contactless biometric modality in Ghana.