Request For IT Officer

Terms of Reference: IT officer
National E-health Program

Background

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has been working for several years on the reform of the pharmaceutical sector; this has positively impacted the quality, safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products and in turn the overall Health Status in Lebanon.

In 2018, the MoPH launched the process of implementation of the National Barcode System in Lebanon by requesting all pharmaceuticals importers and local manufacturers registered at the MoPH, who intend to import or produce pharmaceutical products, to apply the 2D Matrix Barcode, as per the standards of the “Global Standards One” GS1, on the outer pack of all registered/under-registration pharmaceutical products. An information system for pharmaceuticals traceability “MediTrack” was developed to link all stakeholders in the supply chain in a single network and to allow sharing of information among them.
Since 2020, “MediTrack” system has been implemented in all drugstores (around 200) tracing the imported medications up to the supplier purchase and distribution level.

In 2022, the limited budget allocated from the Lebanese central bank for the total subsidization of the catastrophic illness medications has led to the urgency need to track the dispensing of cancer medications up to the level of the patient at both public and private sector.
For this purpose, a pilot phase was initiated in September 2022 to link hospitals and community pharmacies with WHO support to test the system, evaluate its feasibility, time, cost, and identify gaps in order to improve system performance prior to a full-scale project implementation.

Around 60 hospitals and 65 pharmacies are now using MediTrack for dispensing subsidized catastrophic illness medications to their patients. There are around 3800 remaining pharmacies in addition to the remaining hospitals, the PHC centers that need to be connected to MediTrack during 2023.

Job Description

Under the direct supervision of the Head of the National E-health program (Ms. Lina Abou Mrad), and with coordination with system users, the IT Developer’s responsibility is to enable the expansion and ongoing maintenance of the Drugs MediTrack Information System. This role encompasses ensuring system functionality through software development, testing, user documentation, and deployment.

Job Type

Full Time

Work to be Performed

Output 1: Keep an updated and functional MediTrack Information System.

Deliverable 1.1: Provide a review of the current Drugs MediTrack Information System, implemented through the pilot phase, and present recommendations for improving the system (ensure optimization and enhancement of existing system with regards to quality of content, accuracy, accessibility, retrieving information, ease of maintenance/update, responsiveness …. )
Deliverable 1.2: Prepare, test and troubleshoot new features in MediTrack in real situations before going live.

Create and amend flow charts, develop detailed programming logic and code changes.
Properly install and maintain upgraded MediTrack software system and configure hardware accordingly for ministry departments and implementing partners [validation for this deliverable ex: logbook/report]
Ensure the well-functioning of the servers and database.

Deliverable 1.3: Working alongside with the software company to ensure the well-functioning of the system and to help in designing and developing APIs, new features and functionalities on MediTrack.

Output 2: provide training on MediTrack to pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, pharmacies and all stakeholders to be able to track drugs dispensing up to the patient level and keep training user guide up-to-date.

Output 3: Provide technical support to system users

Deliverable 3.1: Provide technical support for MediTrack users inside and outside MoPH during the scale-up of the system and through its implementation in pharmaceutical companies and integration with other software.
Deliverable 3.2: Assist [the Pharmacist] in developing the National MediTrack System Guidelines along with the related policies and procedures, especially with respect to the technicalities of the information system.

Output 4: Monthly progress report on the implementation of the action plan for scaling up the MediTrack system

Output 5: Data analysis and generation of information pertinent for decision-making.

Deliverable 5.1: Develop a clean, integrated, enriched and standardized data received from different sources.
Deliverable 5.2: Apply advanced and complex technical procedures to extract data and mine data solutions, and provide accordingly reports and dashboards.

- Perform any other task requested from the Head of the National E-Health Program.

Requirements

Education: A Master’s degree in Computer Science, Management Information Systems, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, Programming or any related field.

Experience required:

A minimum of Two years relevant work experience in development.
Proven experience in NGO and/or public related settings.
Lebanese Nationality

Technical skills and knowledge:

Full Stack Development Capability
Designing and developing APIs.
SQL Data Manipulation and Query Writing Experience
Database Management and Design (SQL Server)
.Net and ASP.Net Expertise
Web Development Experience (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
Ensure timely and secure information flows from and to the MoPH.
Knowledge of data security is a plus.
General ability to report, draft ideas and concepts, clearly and concisely in written and oral form;

Qualifications

Strong organizational and project management skills.
Strong communication, interpersonal and organizational skills;
Good problem-solving skills.
Attention to details.
Has a team spirit

Language requirements:
English; Arabic; French (read, write, speak)

Place of assignment

Submit your cv to the Ministry of Public Health email address: info@moph.gov.lb