“Despite the effects our hospital faced due to thewar, it was also the only hospital which functioned in the Tigray Region during the conflict,” said Dr. Kibrom Gebreslassie, Chief Executive Director of Ayder Hospital, recalling the situation in Ayder Hospital during the conflict. “The card room was disorganized, which took us a lot of time to find documents, which made the condition difficult during the emergency situation.”

Ayder Hospital was one of the health facilities in Tigray Region which was affected due to the conflicts in the northern parts of Ethiopia. The effect of the war was clearly observed in different parts of the hospital.

To manage this crisis post war, DHA supported the hospital to implement various measures. Mulubirhan Tesfay said, “We started from the inactive patient cards to move to the archive, leaving free shelves for the new patient cards. This step helped us reduce congestion in the chart room significantly.”

Photo: Ayder Hospital corridor and card room before the restructuring

The card room was one of the rooms which was affected by the war. In the hospital there were more than 1.1 million active and inactive patient cards, which made it difficult to access active cases due to the disorganized situation in the card room.

“The card room was overcrowded, which made it difficult for us to manage patient cards effectively,” said Mulubirhan Tesfay, Emergency Card Room Director.

“We used to place new patient cards on the floor and in the hospital corridor due to shortage of shelf space.”

He continued, “We arranged the misplaced patient cards in a systematic manner. This step helped improve the efficiency of tracking and finding patient cards, enabling faster access to patient records.”

With the support of DHA, the new card room system enabled the staff to track and manage patient cards effectively, leading to better patient care. Overall, the chart room has become well arranged, and the staff can now find patient cards quickly and easily. The sorting system has had a positive impact on the hospital’s operations and has improved patient care.

Photo: Ayder Hospital card room after the restructure

“We recognized the importance of efficient patient card management and invested the necessary resources to improve the chart room’s functioning,” said Dr. Kibrom Gebreslassie, Chief Executive Director of Ayder Hospital.

“We thank DHA for their support provided to us to arrange the card room in our hospital post war. The successful completion of the restructuring process is a testament to the hospital management’s commitment to providing high-quality health care services,” he added.

Article by

Eyob Kebede

Implementation Area Manager