Digitise community clinics

Health experts yesterday stressed the need to digitise Bangladesh's community clinics to enhance service delivery and meet growing health demands.

Given the high prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and maternal and child health needs, a digital system for health services could effectively address core community-level challenges, they told an event organised by the Community Clinic Health Support Trust at BMRC Bhaban in Dhaka's Mohakhali.

The Trust currently oversees around 14,500 community clinics across the country.

The Global Health Team of Kyushu University presented a survey report on Community Health Care Providers (CHCPs) at the event.

Rafiqul Islam Maruf, associate professor at Kyushu University's Division of Healthcare Digital Transformation, said the survey -- conducted between October 1 and 15 -- covered 42 CHCPs.

According to the findings, 24 percent of respondents said manual recordkeeping is time-consuming, while 64 percent reported no major difficulties. Awareness of telemedicine is high, and acceptance for future implementation is strong, Maruf noted.

They recommended a centralised online monitoring and logistics system to manage equipment conditions and supply chains more effectively.

CHCPs currently maintain over a dozen manual logbooks to record patient information, he said, adding that digitising this process would help doctors assess patients more accurately and efficiently.

Shah Ali Akbar Ashrafi, former director (MIS) of the Directorate General of Health Services, said digitisation would help track disease prevalence in specific areas and support health management planning.

"There's a vast amount of data available, but we need to use it to inform policy decisions so that service seekers get benefit," he added.

Prof Abul Kalam Azad, former DGHS director general, echoed the call for digitization and stressed the need for dedicated personnel to provide telemedicine services at community clinics.

Md Akhtaruzzaman, managing director of the Trust, emphasised integrating data collected for various purposes to streamline health service delivery.