KARACHI, Dec 9: A delay in the execution of a computerisation project at the Civil Hospital Karachi has increased its cost by around 47 per cent of the first outlay approved by the provincial working development party (PWDP) in October 2005.
The project is aimed at the integration of clinical as well as financial and administrative applications at the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) and is not expected to be completed within the next two years.
Six months back, the officials looking after the hospital project were confident that the long pending work would finally commence in September 2007 after the earlier delays. However, the hierarchy in the provincial information technology and health departments still seem to be dragging their feet on the project.
The delay will push up the estimated project’s cost, approved by the provincial working development party (PWDP) on Oct 8, 2005, by 47 per cent which will be borne by the provincial government.
“If things go in the right direction, any initiation of the project on ground can only be visible in March 2008 or so,” said a source privy to the venture.
Sindh Information Techno-logy Secretary Mohammad Zakir said that the PWDP had very recently informed the IT department that it had approved a modified scheme pertaining to hospital management and information system (HMIS).
Efforts were now on for an administrative approval and expenditure sanction from the finance department, he added.
He said that the revised scheme would enable the IT department to execute the CHK project in a more transparent manner. “Now we can expect more bidders for the project while the entire system and servers would have to be branded ones,” he said, adding that the issuance of the required approval and floating of tenders would need three months more.
The cost of the HMIS project as approved by the PWDP is Rs137.609 million while the IT department will have to submit a detailed year-wise procurement plan and training and work plans with specific targets. A timeline and identification of the parties responsible for each activity will also be required to be mentioned.
According to the sources, the hospital automation scheme first approved on October 8, 2005 had put the cost at Rs93.127 million but the project could not take off for various reasons.
Despite repeated administrative changes at different levels over the last two years, the hierarchy of the department obviously remained divided into two groups — the accountability-conscious and the politically-motivated — who failed to develop a consensus on some of the main issues, commented a source.
People at the helm of affairs in the health department and the hospital also failed to play any proactive role in the IT project issue.
Another source said that the hospital staff could also be questioned for the slow pace of the project.
Perhaps some of the staff feared the transparency that was to prevail after computerisation, the source said, adding that during a study related to the project the provincial IT department team had come across the improper recording or reporting of patients’ data and non-indenting and indexing of records or files and other instruments.
A feasibility report for hospital management information system (HMIS) of the CHK was prepared by a private firm, taking almost two months as technical staff did not exist for the purpose in the IT department.
The administrative approval for the project was obtained from the Sindh finance department in May 2006 following which tenders were invited in October 2006. Four companies participated in the tender, whose bids ranged from Rs100 million to Rs110 million, while the IT department had received an amount to the tune of Rs71 million in its kitty for the procurement of hardware and software.
Sindh Information Techno-logy Additional Secretary Mohammad Yousuf, who is also looking after the CHK project, said the HMIS would be a turnkey solution that would allow users to register and record not only patients’ information, about their admission, treatment, discharge but also about other functions like purchase and procurement inventories, information regarding doctors’ duties and any other data related to the organisation.
He said the project was part of the Sindh ADP 2005-06 and envisaged the creation of a viable IT-based operational entity to improve the patient management performance.
Once data was consolidated through computers, quick retrieval of patient’s history, medical records, stocks position, goods receivable and other relevant information would become possible.
“We hope to deliver the CHK project in line with international standards, something latest and which could be replicated in other teaching hospitals of the province,” Mr Yousuf said, expressing hope that the hospital would nominate a dedicated and competent focal person for the project.
