Unqualified personnel flood government hospitals as health record officers as less than 20 % are qualified and licensed to take and keep records, Registrar of the Health Records Officers Registration Board of Nigeria, Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim Mami has said.
He stated this yesterday when the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire visited the headquarters of the Health Records Officers Registration Board of Nigeria in Abuja.
Mami said hospitals and clinics in the country are still far from getting maximum impact of the board because they recruit untrained persons to man health records departments, adding that there are few trained health records managers to meet the needs and expertise necessary for efficient health records management.
He lamented that the country’s health records management cannot attract meaningful international and regional recognised practice if it does not measure up to standardised heath information system.
Mami urged the minister to give a directive that institutions and persons engaging in electronic health records system should meet certain standards before being employed or going into operation.
The registrar also called on the minister to develop a memo to the National Council of Health seeking to compel every health facility in the country to engage trained and licensed health information managers to manage it records department.
Earlier, Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire advised health records officers in the country to improve their services in order to make quality healthcare available to Nigerians.
He urged the board to work on its members saying the medical records department is the first that a patient goes to in a hospital, and the attitude of the personnel there could discourage or encourage the patient to access care in the hospital.
He added that damage to the image of hospitals can start from the health records department and once controlled can reduce the negative perception people have of public hospitals, and also discourage people from going to private hospitals abroad for treatment.
Ehanire said the electronic health records system is progressing well in many hospitals in the country adding that it is fast, easy and less prone to corruption and mismanagement.
While promising that government will address challenges facing the board , he also urged the board not to rush in to training courses that government and the country is not ready to handle now.
