Hospital Management Systems

A hospital management system in Cameroon has to follow a patient from the reception desk to the cashier without losing information on the way. With Opesware, registration creates one patient record that every department then reads and adds to: triage notes and vital signs, consultation findings, lab requests and results, prescriptions dispensed by the pharmacy, and the final invoice. The doctor sees the history before the patient sits down, and the cashier sees exactly which acts and drugs to bill.

We build this on OPES EMR and the wider OPES Health Systems, 22 systems that share one Health ID through OPESCare. A small clinic can start with the electronic record and billing; a private or faith-based hospital can add OPES Hospital HIS for admissions and wards, OPES Lab, PHARMIS for the pharmacy, RADIS for imaging and OPES Triage at the emergency entrance, without registering the patient again each time.

• Payments the way patients pay. Cash at the till, MTN MoMo and Orange Money, deposits on admission, and patients covered by an insurer or an employer, with the share each party owes kept separate on the invoice. All amounts are in FCFA.
• Unreliable power and internet. Consultation rooms and wards keep working on the hospital’s local network when the connection drops, and records synchronise when it returns, so a slow line does not stop admissions.
• English and French. Each user chooses the interface language, which matters in bilingual teams and in hospitals that receive both Anglophone and Francophone patients.
• Drug stock and expiry. The pharmacy sees batches and expiry dates, and every dispensed item is tied to a prescription, which makes leakage easier to spot.
• Reporting. Activity, revenue per department and disease counts come from the same data instead of being rebuilt by hand at the end of each month.

Medical records are among the most sensitive data any organisation holds. We set up role-based access so that a receptionist, a nurse, a lab technician and a doctor each see only what their work requires, and every view and change is logged against a named user. Passwords are personal, sessions close on shared computers, and backups are scheduled and tested. We also help management write simple rules on who may print or export records, and we review the whole set-up with your medical director before go-live.

Hosting is your choice. Some hospitals prefer a server on their own premises, which keeps working when the internet is down; others prefer the cloud, which removes the need to look after hardware on site. Many combine the two, with a local server for daily work that synchronises to a protected copy off site. Either way, the Health ID shared across the OPES Health Systems means that when a patient is referred to another department or facility using them, the record can follow the patient instead of being rewritten from memory.

1. Site visit and workflow mapping. Our team walks the patient path with your staff, from reception to discharge, and lists the departments, forms and reports you already use.
2. Configuration. Price lists, medical acts, the drug catalogue, wards, users and insurers are loaded, and existing patient lists are imported where they exist in digital form.
3. Hardware and network. We advise on computers, printers, the local network and backup power, and our networking team can install them.
4. Training. Each role is trained on its own screens, in English or French, with a champion named in every department.
5. Go-live and support. We stay close during the first days of live use; support then continues by phone, WhatsApp and remote access, on site in Douala and through scheduled visits elsewhere in Cameroon.

Hospitals in other CEMAC countries are supported remotely with planned visits. To plan your project, request a quote.