ORCI Trustees tasked to speed up service delivery, health insurance process

DAR ES SALAAM: THE Minister for Health, Mohamed Mchengerwa, has directed the Board of Trustees of the Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI) to ensure that health information systems within the health sector are interoperable to speed up service delivery and reduce the burden on the health insurance process.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam during a visit to ORCI and the inauguration of the ORCI Board of Trustees, Minister Mchengerwa said that since ORCI is the national referral centre, it must ensure that information on services received by patients from any part of the country is accessible to other health institutions providing care to the same patient.

Emphasizing on the matter, the minister said that since ORCI is the national referral centre, the government expects that when a patient is in Dodoma or any other region, they should be able to see their medical history and the progress of their treatment.

“If I need information on the care a patient has received, I should be able to access it even if the patient is in the Kilimanjaro Region,” he said.

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According to the minister, the introduction of interoperable systems would also simplify health insurance procedures as insurers require access to patient information to avoid duplication of tests or medical supplies that have already been provided elsewhere.

“This will help ease the burden on our colleagues at TIRA and health insurance schemes by avoiding payment for treatments or tests that the patient has already received. You may find one patient undergoing the same test four times,” he said.