The management of the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano (AKTH) is seeking the support of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in improving the digital capacity of its staff, which it says will ultimately transform its Health Information Management System (HIMS).
The top Management Committee of the hospital seeks the support when it paid him a courtesy visit at the Kano Zonal Office of the Commission at the weekend.
“The Commission has done a lot for us in the area of equipment for the hospital, which is helping us to deliver services optimally. Meanwhile, we are also seeking NCC’s support in the area of a Health Information Management System (HIMS) and digital capacity for staff,” said Prof. Abdulrahman Sheshe, Chief Medical Director (CMD) of AKTH, who led the delegation on the courtesy call.
The Professor disclosed that the visit is an expression of the hospital’s appreciation for the enormous contributions of the EVC and the Commission to the development of health institutions over the years in the country.
Prof. Sheshe, said through the support and donations from Kano people like the EVC and institutions like NCC, the hospital has increased its bed capacity from 250 to 700, as well as performing 57 successful transplant surgeries.
“You have also made enormous contributions in this regard and that has helped us to get new dialysis machines through your assistance and these machines are being put to use, aside from other state-of-the-art equipment already in place,” he said while appreciating the EVC.
Responding, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, said that robust digital infrastructure and literacy are key to reaping the transformational benefits of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) across public and private institutions in the country.
He noted that Commission, as a regulatory body, supports federal institutions with necessary ICT equipment across the country and is ready to assist AKTH in this regard.
“As a Commission, we are working to bridge the infrastructure divide, which is an element of the entire digital ecosystem. We do this via a lot of ongoing regulatory initiatives. And, through our training arm, Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), we provide digital literacy to critical sectors of the economy, including the health sector, we also intervene through our Advanced Digital Appreciation Programme,” he said.
According to Danbatta, digital divide can be bridged by making computers available and ICT services accessible to people and key sectors of the economy.
“Infrastructure that can host this massive flow of information and knowledge is broadband infrastructure and this is top-most in the agenda of the Commission. Indeed, ICT is transforming every sector of the economy and the earlier we embrace the vast opportunity brought by ICT the better,” the EVC pointed out.
