Monitoring and Evaluation Assistants for Secondary Health

The Health Department has taken an initiative to improve the performance of its health sector by introducing a program called Monitoring and Evaluation Assistants (MEAs) for Secondary Health.

Purpose

Under this program, monitoring and evaluation assistants visit hospitals in the District and Tehsil level to gather information related to these health facilities, including delivery of medical services, and attendance of paramedical staff and physicians, etc. This information is collected on a specifically designed mobile application, which is integrated with the central database.

What Facilities Are Covered?

District Headquarter Hospitals (DHQ), Tehsil Headquarter hospitals (THQ) and DHQ teaching hospitals are covered by the program. The total number of facilities is 154 where the MEAs visit and currently, the total number of MEAs is 22.

Function

Each monitoring and evaluation assistant is given a device with the mobile application installed in it, where he gathers information about the availability of medicines, supplies, and equipment. To improve the performance and efficiency of assistants, they are sent to each facility in a pair to monitor whether the Key Performance Indicators are being met or not.

If one of the assistants is absent, the whole visit is considered incomplete. To ensure the presence of both the assistants at the facility, the device has a GPS installed in it. Before logging into to the system, they are required to activate the GPS.

The system divides the facility into two sections, known as Form A and Form B.

Form A

It includes information about outlook utilities, methods of waste disposal, data of absences and information about equipment as to whether they are functional or not functional.

Form B

The sections included in this form are self-reported indicators (operation theatres in use, labor rooms in use, deliveries handled), vacancy data, and availability of medicines and supplies.

To further strengthen the process, images are taken as a proof. There is also a section to add additional comments if needed. The data collected by the system is very extensive, and so, it is converted into a report. The system also allows a list view and a map view. Monthly stats of each level (DHQ’s hospital, THQ’s hospital, and Teaching’s hospital) can also be viewed.

By having a proper system in place, the overall performance has tremendously improved. For example, the availability of medicine has since improved. It is a continually evolving process, which has led to the development of another system called Maintenance and Cleanliness system (MACS) that works alongside this system.