FTH Owerri: We didn’t shut down, disruption due to system upgrade

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By Emmanuel Iheaka

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OWERRI — The management of the Federal Teaching Hospital Owerri has said the disruption of some of its services in the last 48 hours was caused by a scheduled upgrade of its Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system.

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The hospital, in a statement signed by its Public Relations Officer, Ikechukwu Anyaegbu, said the upgrade to a newer and more advanced version was part of its efforts to improve the efficiency, accessibility, security and overall quality of healthcare services.

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Anyaegbu dismissed reports circulating on social media that the hospital deliberately shut down its system to deny patients and members of the public access to healthcare.

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He also refuted claims that 10 people died as a result of the system upgrade, describing the attribution of deaths to the exercise as a misrepresentation of the complex medical and life-threatening emergencies managed at the hospital.

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“There was no shutdown of clinical services. The hospital’s wards were onboarded to the new system ahead of the system going live, as part of the planned transition.

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“Clinics also remained operational, and alternative processes were deployed to support continuity of care during the transition,” the statement said.

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According to the hospital, the upgrade was also intended to strengthen its digital health infrastructure, facilitate telemedicine services, improve patient data management and align its systems with evolving global practices.

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Management, however, acknowledged that technical difficulties and workflow challenges associated with the migration had caused inconvenience, anxiety and delays in some services.

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“The hospital’s Management, ICT unit, clinical teams, and relevant technical consultants have remained actively engaged throughout the transition. They are working round the clock to identify and resolve emerging technical issues and to stabilise the new system,” the statement added.

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The hospital said significant progress had been recorded within the last 24 hours, with full service restored in many units.

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It added that the outstanding technical challenges were expected to be substantially resolved within the next 48 hours.

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The management apologised to patients, staff and members of the public for the disruptions and appealed for patience and understanding.

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It reaffirmed its commitment to providing safe, accessible and quality healthcare services to residents of Imo State and beyond.

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The hospital also said it would continue to invest in technology and processes to improve patient care while strengthening contingency measures to minimise disruptions during major software upgrades and system migrations.

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