R6m earmarked for health smart cards

By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb senior writer

Johannesburg, 29 Feb 2008

The Gauteng Department of Health will receive R6.7 million over the next three years to roll-out a smart card-based patient verification system detailing the medical particulars of people using public hospitals and clinics.

The department says an RFI was issued in June last year and an RFP followed in September. An award for a pilot project/proof of concept followed in December. The department will start issuing the smart cards as soon as the pilot is completed.

Health MEC Brian Hlongwa earlier this month said the technology would be installed in 30% of the province`s health facilities "by this time next year". He added that the current paper-based system was "archaic".

The cards will contain a patient`s medical history, blood group and allergies. Hlongwa noted the cards "will go a long way towards reducing waiting times in clinics, community health centres and hospitals".

They will also enable referrals from clinics to hospitals and assist in building a better demographic profile of people using the province`s health facilities.

The province will also spend R86 million on securing its health facilities, with some of the funding going to IT solutions. "The security measures include the use of technology, physical guards, necessary changes to facilities like strengthening perimeter control, and lastly - making amendments to some of the operations where cash registers are placed in risk-attracting areas," says spokesperson Zanele Mngadi.

She adds that George Mukhari Hospital, in GaRankuwa, north of Pretoria; Chris Hani Baragwanath, in Soweto; and Johannesburg Hospital are to be prioritised and new security measures should be in place by "no later than 1 April".

"Norms and standards together with terms of reference for adverts have been completed for a further 30 hospitals," she adds, "but will only be advertised once we have secured additional budgets for provincial security." As a yardstick, she adds that a small hospital needs about R5 million a year for security.

Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, in particular, has a poor security record. A patient was murdered there in November and a hospital worker was wounded in the same incident. In August, a student doctor was attacked and raped on hospital grounds while on her way to a blood bank.