Strengthening the management of medical infrastructure and equipment including the timely maintenance, repair and renovation is critical to improve health care delivery and make the best use of investments in the health sector.

Ally Kebby, Project Manager at HPSS Project, an initiative of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, that is implemented by Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, initiated a 3-day training on the use of Medical Equipment Maintenance Information System (MEIMIS) that took place in Dodoma.

“In order to make this possible and sustainable, empowering all relevant staff with requisite sets of skills and competencies for health technology professionals at all levels of health facilities is a prerequisite”, he said.

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​The training sought to build capacity of personnel at the department of curative services (DCS) in the Ministry of Health (MoH) and their counterparts from the department of health (DHS) at the President’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG). Training was provided for Biomedical Engineering Technicians (BMETs) and other health workers in the utilization of MEIMIS at district, regional and national public health facilities.

Previously, planning, procurement and maintenance of infrastructure, medical equipment in many health facilities was done randomly and inefficiently. Consequently, there was rapid deterioration of infrastructure and frequent equipment failures. This not only destabilized medical services, but may also compromised the safety of patients and staff at the health facilities. MEIMIS is just but one of the many key innovative solutions of HPSS Project through its Health Technology Management (HTM) component, implemented in collaboration with PORALG and the Ministry of Health. It has been rolled out to ensure the attainment of affordable and sustainable quality healthcare delivery.

Speaking after the training, Ferdinand Matata, Health Technology Management Coordinator at POLARG said the training will help his department to better support BMETs and other health workers in their contribution to quality health services.

On her part, Eva Bigambo, MEIMIS Coordinator at the Ministry of Health said the delivery of quality healthcare largely depends on adequate and functioning health equipment and facilities.

“MEIMIS will therefore help to strengthen the management and optimum utilization of medical equipment as part of efficient and cost-effective measures in low-resource health facilities across the country”, she said.