January 15, 2018 - Ethiopian ministry of Health announced plans to implement a new primary healthcare guideline to ensure uniformity and quality of health service delivery in all health centers and places across Ethiopia.
Clinical service Directorate Acting Director and national public healthcare guideline coordinator with the Ministry, Dr. Yibeltal Mekonnen, told that the ministry is launching public healthcare guidelines to provide qualified and well-organized service throughout the nation.
He added that one of the major setbacks to health service delivery in Ethiopia today is inequity and the need to provide quality integrated health care for all its citizens. Primary public healthcare is aimed at the way to provide quality and reliable health service. Standard treatment guidelines and the essential health service packages have been developed and implementing at health centers and institutions across the country.
Healthcare infrastructure development coverage has reached 85 percent in health institutions, but there is a gap in delivering quality health service. To solve the problem and to satisfy the community health care guideline is the most important tool, he added.
The primary healthcare guideline is developed based on citizen's question and demand to apply the system due to service delivery variation from health center to health center and place to place, he pointed.
"The guideline supports professionals how to treat, address and approach patients with the most repeated and the same symptoms and pains to respond appropriate treatment, advice and life change problems of community. The system enables professionals to treat using red box condition if emergency conditions happen which could affect the life of community especially due to non-communicable diseases and it decides service range of health centers.
He stressed that healthcare guideline system where multiple treatment options are available, the development and implementation of standard treatment guideline is a crucial strategy for ensuring uniform, quality, effective and safe deliver of treatments containing health care services in all health institutions including curative and preventive methods.
Source:- Ethiopian Herald