In the first months of the full-scale invasion of russia on the territory of Ukraine, hospitals experienced a great shortage of the most necessary goods.
The Medical Procurement of Ukraine`s team took a proactive position almost from the first days and joined the negotiations with partners and suppliers regarding the delivery of medical humanitarian aid. Soon, in the conditions of chaotic search and import of humanitarian aid, it became clear that Ukraine needs a centralized system for accounting and control of all deliveries as well as for its distribution according to the needs of regions and institutions.
The challenge of creating such a system was taken up by MPU`s IT team - in a short period of time, we have succeeded in developing a complex product that allows us to manage the full cycle of the medical humanitarian aid`s transportation within the country, from the emergence of a need to transportation to the hospital. How exactly it occured - describes Alona Zhuzha, Deputy General Manager on IT Development.
Why was the creation of a functionality for medical humanitarian aid`s accounting so important?
- From the first days of the full-scale invasion of russia on the territory of our state, the Medical Procurement of Ukraine worked at maximum to meet the needs of civilians, the army and the country. More than 11,000 tons of medical humanitarian aid were accounted for through our system during the year. Its total value is more than UAH 13 billion. Imagine how huge this volume is.
Even in the uncertain conditions of the great war`s first weeks, we understood that thanks to a systematic approach, we would be able to supply hospitals with the most necessary things in a much better way and significantly reduce corruption risks thanks to a transparent mechanism of accounting and distribution of goods at each stage. That is why we decided not to delay, but to act proactively. Soon, a separate module appeared in our MedData system, which is still used as a centralized system for all medical humanitarian aid`s accounting that comes to Ukraine through the Ministry of Health.
What challenges did you face when you started developing the humanitarian aid accounting system?
- It was necessary to make the functionality very quickly - this was the first challenge for the team. Every extra day without a tracking tool increased risks and burdens due to non-digitized data. The next difficulty is people, for whom there was no time to look for. Another reason that made the project more complicated is that the process of humanitarian aid`s importing and distributing actually took place simultaneously with the development of the system. Thus, its functionality was constantly changed, revised, optimized, so that the system was as efficient as possible.
How did you manage to overcome these obstacles?
- The team was already preparing the sequence of actions in case of emergency situations two months before the start of the war. This concerned both additional protection of the server infrastructure and improvement of software development processes. Accordingly, when such a need arose, we successfully coped with all difficult tasks and in a week we had the first results.
Then we expanded the functionality step by step, indeed non-stop for several months. Currently, the movement of humanitarian aid imported into Ukraine through the Ministry of Health is fully tracked in our MedData information and analytical system. This is still the best example of control over such a process among all departments at present.
How exactly is the accounting of medical humanitarian aid done through the functionality developed by MPU on the basis of its MedData system?
- The system currently provides automation of such processes as collection of the need for humanitarian aid, reporting on balances and supplies, has registers of donor organizations, a register of recipients of humanitarian aid, tracks humanitarian aid in warehouses (transit, regional, warehouses of military-civilian administrations), covers documentary part of the movement of goods (inventory reports, correction of acts, etc.), distribution of goods, their logistics and further accounting, etc. In fact, the full cycle of goods movement is automated, which allows to manage efficiently humanitarian supplies and ensures its targeted use.
These results demonstrate the stability of both our country in this war and the stability of individual institutions and teams. An important component of such stability is the ability to respond quickly to new challenges, to be open to changes, to adapt to them, and, probably most importantly, to take responsibility for everyone in his part, and in some cases beyond.