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Week 29

May 15, 2012 by Suubi Trust



Week 29 Outside Walls Plastered, originally uploaded by Suubi Trust.

The team has now plastered the outside walls and is starting on the finishing works inside.

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Patients Want Good Customer Care

May 13, 2012 by Kevin

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending a meeting with more than two dozen community leaders from the zones surrounding Hope Clinic Lukuli.

BlackBerry in a dark room with light coming from the other end makes it difficult to get a good photo.

BlackBerry in a dark room with light coming from the other end makes it difficult to get a good photo.

Hope Clinic was established in 2000 and some of the leaders attending had been accessing services for more than 10 years. The clinic is located right in the heart of the community, within a short walking distance for those that it serves; so it is ACCESSIBLE.

The clinic is able to provide some services free, depending upon Ministry of Health, Donor and Charity support. Other services are priced simply to cover costs; HCL is a not-for-profit organisation. Against many measures its services are AFFORDABLE.

Services provided include comprehensive maternal healthcare and HIV testing and treatment. Patients are attended to by trained clinical staff, supported by experienced laboratory technicians and a well stocked pharmacy. So, unlike many public centres, HCL is appropriately staffed and supplied. Required services are AVAILABLE.

hcl6

I came to the meeting expecting some push-back about costs or about the lack of hospital services (HCL is essentially an outpatient clinic, with Midwife led in-patient services for normal deliveries.) I was therefore quite surprised when the overwhelming feedback was that local people preferred to go to the local drug shops and traditional birth attendants because these provided much better “customer care”.

It seems that Cost is not the most important factor for patients, but rather how friendly and caring the staff are. I’m ashamed that after 3 years here in Uganda I’m caught by surprise by this. I’m sorry if I thought that those with less income would be content with the quality of healthcare service being provided and the fact that it was accessible and affordable. This is is an eye-opener.

Professionals in the Healthcare sector often think little or even disparagingly of the TBAs and Drug Shops. We often say that they are not providing sufficient quality of care, they don’t practice evidence based medicine and perhaps even that they are not safe. What I now see is that the patients who seek care and treatment are better able to judge the quality of customer care and they value friendly, caring service perhaps more than the quality and safety of the clinical services provided. That I think is because they can judge when customer service is good, easier than judging when the clinical care is good.

Perhaps we need to design a Health System in which the professionals judge the patient safety and quality of care and the patients judge the customer satisfaction?

HCL1

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Decoding Medical Bills

May 13, 2012 by Kevin

I have an interest in the Business of Healthcare and in particular how different countries fund healthcare for their citizens.

Jen sent me the following infographic which, I think, gives a very interesting insight into healthcare costs in the USA.

>>>

The US spends more per capita on health care than any other country in the world. Americans can’t afford health care. While politicians are trying to find an answer to this crisis, people are struggling to find a way to pay for their medical bills. The average American family spends $19,393 annually for health care coverage. 60% of personal bankruptcies are linked to medical bills.

Decoding Your Medical Bills
Created by: Medical Billing and Coding Certification

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Week 25 – Roof Sheets Go On

April 14, 2012 by Suubi Trust

Week 25 Roof going on

Ibrahim and the IMG Construction team continue to make good progress building the maternity theatre at Charis-IMC, Lira, N. Uganda.

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Week 24 – Roof trusses on

April 4, 2012 by Suubi Trust

Week 24a Roof trusses on, originally uploaded by Suubi Trust.

Roofing is going on as trusses have been installed. Purlins are to be put on then finally the roof cover(Iron sheets) later this week. All roofing materials have now been purchased as there was a delay in getting them due to scarcity of steel products in Lira town.

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IHK introduces patient smart cards

March 30, 2012 by Kevin

Published in The Observer on Tuesday, 27 March 2012 19:06. Written by Moses Talemwa.

 

Dr Muhame Rugambwa demonstrates how the patient smart card works

The days when one went to see a doctor and was met by a white-gowned doctor, with a stethoscope around his neck, a notebook and pen are on their way out, thanks to a decision by International Hospital Kampala (IHK) to embrace computer technology.

While the white gown and stethoscope are still in, the pen and notebook are now making way for computers. The hospital has introduced computerized smart cards that will see patients on its medical insurance scheme access their medical history at any of its 120 affiliate clinics. According to IHK Chief Executive Officer Kevin Duffy, every doctor’s office is now fitted with a networked computer on which they will be required to type their medical notes, ending the decades-old practice of writing on notepads.

“Even a lab request for a test will be fed into the system and the patient will just produce their card which has these details. Once the examination is done, the results will be fed into the system, so the doctor at the other end can respond and offer treatment quickly,” Duffy says. He adds that the system intends to cut back on the voluminous paperwork, treatment time and also improve hospital administration.

“Apart from shortening the treating time, one will now be able to determine better the optimum cost of primary healthcare, as well as control whether the treatment offered is appropriate,” Duffy adds.

Under the new system, which is based on biometrics, doctor or patient will only be able to access their medical history over the last 10 visits to hospital through a live fingerprint. “What this means is that the patient’s details are confidential, secure but easily accessible in a shorter time than previously,” Dr Ian Clarke, the IHK chairman, explains.

A patient is required to present his or her card, which when placed in a fingerprint reader will be used to register the member’s fingerprints at the initial visit and match it to the member’s benefits at any point of service, say laboratory, pharmacy and doctor’s office. Clarke explains that under this system, the patient is unable to obtain treatment on the health insurance scheme unless their fingerprints match with what is saved in the system.

The new card system comes through SMART Applications International Ltd, a Kenyan firm that is piloting the solution in Uganda. According to its Managing Director, Pauline Muriuki, IHK has exclusive rights to the card system for one year, but she says several other hospitals have already expressed interest in it.

Dr Muhame Rugambwa, the director of Medical Services at IHK, says this new measure takes the doctor-patient environment into a new era. “In the future I expect to see hospitals with a wireless connection where a doctor does his ward rounds with a tablet computer, keys in his medical notes and they are available on the system for other doctors to consult and advise accordingly; it’s the future of medical practice,” he says.
mtalemwa@observer.ug

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Helping to Improve Maternal Health in N. Uganda

March 27, 2012 by Suubi Trust

Women living in Uganda face a 1 in 35 chance of dying as a result of complications during pregnancy or delivery; that’s 134 times greater than the same risk faced by those living in the UK. (WHO, 2010: 26)

At least 16 Ugandan women die each day whilst giving birth and perhaps up to 10 times that number suffer complications that significantly affect their on-going quality of life.

In the UK, 7 children are shared between 10 adult women; in Uganda each woman has, on average, 7 children.

More than 20,000 Ugandan babies are born each year infected with HIV passed from their mother.

So maybe Ugandan women should just have less children, wouldn’t that help to solve these problems? If only it was that simple. Trying to impose our Western culture or world-view on others is not the answer; we must work with those that we want to help, to provide solutions that they will find acceptable and appropriate.

Recent research shows that more than two thirds of women who want to use modern family planning are unable to get regular, sustainable access to it. (Guutmacher, 2009)

Suubi Trust is working with local health teams throughout Uganda to help resolve these issues. In Lira, Northern Uganda, it is partnering with a local faith based organisation, Charis, to implement solutions that will help to improve maternal and child health for the poor living in the local communities.

Some of the local women who will benefit from the Maternal-Child-Health services being provided at the Charis healthcentre in Lira, N. Uganda.
Click for more photos...

These include ante-natal services in which women can access the necessary treatment to help prevent mother to child transmission of HIV and receive family planning after delivery.

We are building a Maternity Theatre that will help provide safe delivery, with emergency obstetrics care, such as c-sections, as and when needed. Friends and supporters of Suubi Trust have raised the necessary funds for this and a generous donor has offered to buy all of the necessary equipment.

The theatre will be operational by September 2012 at which time we will be seeking donor support to sponsor ANC and Safe Delivery for those local women who could not otherwise access such services.

You can read more about this project by clicking here and here.

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