one should not underscore the complexity of implementing organization wide systems. ERP implementation alone is a nightmare when you have client that constitutes of people from multiple discipline, temperament and outlook towards life. Now take that, multiply by one million. that is the complexity of implementing such a system. Best approach? stepwise refinement of a one table database. the patients encounters table. => FYI I wouldnt recommend re-inventing the wheel. Go Open source and make contribute back to the OS world. My 2 Cnts. On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 9:28 PM, Joseph McDonald <mcdonaldoj@gmail.com>wrote:
How can someone in Europe or any other part of the world design an e-health system for Kenya from St.Elsewhere? Am saying this because to develop a good system you need to understand where we are and where we want to go.
Hence a good e-health system is not only about information and technology, its about understanding the processes, objectives and values, staffing and skills, management structures etc All these aspects can only be understood better by local people.
You need collaboration of all players in the health sector to build a good system i.e the health professionals (health professional identification systems), the views of the public because they are the patients, you need health providers both private and public including insurance companies; lastly you need a good legislative framework (data privacy and protection).
So I don’t believe some one can purport to be designing an e-health system for Kenya from some University in Norway, if indeed there is such a system it is then designed to fail or it should be investigated by KACC because it is a way to defraud the country some money, also you cannot just pull a system (OTS) from another country and use it in Kenya; you have to do some reality check because Kenya is not India or Norway or SA.
Do we honestly think that Kenya's health administrative issues can be solved by a system? I highly doubt. Why am I saying this? e.g. KEMSA have a locally modified ERP system but still they have expired drugs in their stores, while there are some district hospitals that need the same drugs.
The local IT community need to work more closely and with collaboration, look at problems and lobby the government, because technology is not about programming and coding only or having web this and that or mobile this and that. It is addressing a national or global problem by enriching life to make it more efficient. Having said that IT people cannot work in isolation they need to work with Business Planners, Business Model Specialist, Product Managers and Marketers specialist,Investors,Value Chain Specialist, Lawyers etc.so ihub should also allow other non-IT people into the hub.
I know there has been lots of debate on Investors and funding, if the funding from Bretton Woods and the government is not forthcoming how about people who have made their careers and riches through IT, if people who have made all their careers and riches in IT can not support others then who will? I know of many IT companies owned by people in this list who make between 24-75 million USD a year.e.g Craft Silicon has made 10 billion in the last 10 years, MJ, Seven Seas, East Africa Capital Partners etc have the resource and clout to start venture capital or act as angel investors. As insiders if they made a deliberate effort to support other young and upcoming innovators we can head somewhere. Silicon Valley was largely built by networks of people and companies whose interlocking relationships help to spawn new start-ups e.g. After selling Paypal for 1.5 billion USD to eBay, its founders and alumni have helped both financially and intellectually to start up numerous internet start-ups e.g. Yelp, Youtube, LinkedIn, Slide, Room9Entertainment, Spacex among others. So much that in October 17 2006 NY times run a story called It Pays to have Pals at Paypal.
The government also has a very important role; they can create an enabling environment especially to protect the ideas through effective and efficient copy right laws and patenting system, creating subsidies for research etc the government can also give more business to local IT companies, and fundamentally the government need to streamline our educational systems so that we can have 16-25 year olds who are ready to go into innovation and venture into business. India is reaping from the decisions their government made in 1948 by setting up Business and Technology institutions in every major city. The government is making efforts through building the techno-parks etc techno-park is good but is it a real estate investment or an investment to spur ICT growth? As a-country we need to assess our place in the global IT value chain, we need to find out what we are good at and can do better than everyone else. China, Malaysia and Taiwan used their population to offer cheap labour, India used excess bandwidth to set-up call centers, America is good at marketing etc
Having said that I think that the debates are healthy because it shows people are genuinely worried and are ready to take action.
On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 2:56 PM, Crystal Watley Kigoni < crystal@voicesofafrica.org> wrote:
The heart of any network is how well it serves its intended purpose. In the case of an e-health system for Kenya the point is to increase the well being of the Kenya population by providing the services they need. In some cases, this could be hand washing campaigns to reduce typhoid, but at this time the data has not been collected due to the lack of ICT in the field at the village level. Therefore many of our best development efforts are hit and miss rather than data based.
BUT in order for anything to work it MUST meet the needs of the people themselves and be easily understood which will require local content generation on a more real level than the Flintstone in Kikuyu. Interfaces should be easy to use and for the wanachini to understand.
Also we need to make sure that we are investing in the skills of the hospital personnel. I cannot emphasize this enough because ultimately the end delivery and the make or break point in the system is right there. No matter how good the tech is, nothing will change unless the people do. The best tech does nothing in the hands of someone who doesn't use it. Just look at how many schools were given computers which are now collecting dust in storerooms because of the lack of capacity building.
This needs to be considered on an ecosystem level from the top of the government to the most remote corners of the country on a individual level. I believe many of us are holding a piece, but we have not put them together to form the puzzle yet.
On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 2:47 PM, aki <aki275@gmail.com> wrote:
@Erick, imagine that you as the system programmer are the parent of a new born and that you are not aware of any diseases/infections at child birth or early stages that can cost the life of your child. How would you then want the system to be that could possibly save the life of your child? The system designed can have the ability to speed up a response or diagnosis. Since those involved in the developer project have been exposed to the medical environment, they all should be able to take up the info from the meds and further enchance the system. The connection between the reality and what can be achieved, is the heart of innovation.
On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 2:08 PM, Erick Njenga <eriknjenga@gmail.com>wrote:
@Aki, could you expound more on what exactly you mean by innovation? I'm not privy to how far the systems will go but will let you know of any progress. cheers.
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