Podgorica, May 17, 2021 – The Ministry of Health and 33 health institutions of Montenegro have recently become connected by a single system, which allows them to monitor the medical and protective equipment stock, as well as to conduct efficient procurement of material that is out of stock, so that all health workers could be adequately protected at their workplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Healthcare facilities are supplied with the necessary equipment and materials on a daily basis, and the new information system has enabled more efficient procurement and avoiding situations in which healthcare workers would lack protective equipment or materials, thanks to more precise monitoring and reporting of consumption and stock. The Medical Inventory platform was created with the support of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Montenegro, with the aim of providing assistance in combating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After the work was done on software development last year, healthcare institutions got at their disposal a platform that allows monitoring the procurement of protective medical equipment, its use and consumption. It also enables monitoring situations at the level of each healthcare institution individually. In each of the institutions, at least one user is trained to enter data on a daily basis, using a module for real-time reporting, analytics, and statistics.

The development of the centralized system was completed in October, with all the necessary technical support provided by the end of the year, when more than 65 users were trained for daily data entry. The platform is now fully operational.

Aleksandar Sekulić, Director General of the Directorate for Digital Health of the Ministry of Health, points out that each of the health institutions has the opportunity to monitor the state of the medical inventory in its own organization.

"We are also in the position to manage the quality generated data at the level of the Ministry of Health and check where the most urgent needs are in order to react. The entire digitization serves to help authorities, from local ones to the Ministry, make the decisions based on well-generated indicators and measurable data, and that is something that is the new quality of this system," Sekulić said.

Daniela Gašparikova, UNDP Resident Representative to Montenegro, believes that the information system, which connects 33 health care providers and the Ministry of Health and allows them to have real-time insight into the availability of medical and protective equipment in their institutions, will help health professionals to they focus on the essence of their job – to treat, take care of health and save the lives of people in Montenegro.

"Thank you – to all first-line health workers – for their unwavering commitment and perseverance in taking care of the health of people in Montenegro and saving their lives," Gašparikova said.

Ana Janković, the Austrian ambassador to Montenegro, believes that the platform, whose development was supported by Austria, will significantly improve the functioning of the health system in Montenegro. "It is also a sign of our solidarity in the difficult times of the pandemic. "I owe sincere gratitude and admiration to all health workers who take a big risk and to whom, I hope, this application will be of great help," the ambassador said.