Senegal: Over $50 million to digitalize health system

The Senegalese government has earmarked $50.2 million to finance the digitalization of the country’s health system, a top official of the health sector told State-run news agency APS.

“The Senegalese government made digital health a priority several months ago. It has agreed to allocate $50.2 million to address the issue,” said Ibrahima Khaliloulah Dia, Coordinator of the Health and Social Map, Digital Health and Health Observatory Unit.

K. Dia however argues that the financing is not enough to cover the entire country. “Senegal has 1,500 health posts, 110 health centers and 40 hospitals. You can imagine what it would take to set up the Internet, equipment, and tablets. That’s a lot of money. Funding this is just a starting point,” he said.

“What we’re aiming for is to digitalize the entire healthcare system, i.e. to ensure that a health post is able to consult information via a computer, and that tomorrow, if the patient returns, the carer will be able to retrieve the file and update it,” K. Dia said.

“A patient can have his or her medical record tracked and circulated securely in a national database, and this is a great added value for the patient, because there will be savings, and x-rays will not have to be repeated,” he said. The health official also indicated that the country already has a digital health orientation law bill, yet to be passed by the parliament.

The initiative to digitalize the country’s health system falls within the framework of the World Bank-backed digital economy acceleration project. The bilateral lender has loaned the West African country $150 million for the program.