Public sector organisations are leveraging digitalisation to cut down corruption and improve the ways of doing business.
The latest to enter the digital market is the Traditional Medicine Practice Council (TMPC) with a launch of a website/online portal and digitalised payment system on Thursday in Accra.
Speaking at the launch, the Deputy Director at the Ministry of Health, Mrs Freda Asare Adjei, stated that the goal of the payment system was to use technology to change existing procedures in order to lessen the difficulties related to service delivery.
She stated that the current digitalisation drive in the country has positively impacted financial inclusion, access to public service, health outcomes, food security, education and more, adding that most public sector institutions in the country are seeking to transform their processes through the adoption of information systems.
“The question is whether these public sector organisations can leverage digitisation to effectively transform their processes. It should be noted that several challenges hinder the deployment of these systems in the public sector,” she added.
She noted that issues relating to norms, culture and regulations have been deemed as factors that hinder the deployment of information systems in most public sector organisations.
Mrs Adjei stated that the Ministry of Health has launched several digital platforms to deal with the bureaucratic nature of the public sector and reduce to minimum human interactions during service delivery.
“For this reason, the Ministry of Health has over the years deployed policies and strategies that would support the deployment of technology in the sector.
“Several training programs on adoption and use of information systems have also been organized for staff working in the sector. This is to ensure that staff under the Ministry of Health are trained to understand the benefits and the need to leverage information systems to transform the existing bureaucratic system in the sector,” she added.