| dc.description.abstract | A study was undertaken to assess classification and filing of active records at the Ministry of Health Central Registry. The objectives were; to establish the current status of classification and filing of active records at the Ministry of Health Central Registry; to find out how the classification and filing of active records at Ministry of Health Central Registry is done; to identify challenges of classification and filing of active records at the Ministry of Health Central Registry and to suggest appropriate measures for effective and efficient classification and filing records at MOH central registry. Data was collected using interviews, observation and document analysis from 6 central registry staff and they included; 1 Senior records officer, 1 principle records officers, 2 assistant records and 2 records officers who were purposively selected for first-hand data collection because the researcher believed that they had trustworthy information on classification and filing of records.
The findings revealed that MOH central registry had established classification and filing procedures which included the Index to Policy and Subject files, Registry Procedure Manual, and the Numerical Keyword List to facilitate classification of active records. The researcher observed that the central registry had some categories of records and these were basically personnel and subject files. The personnel files had the master and working files while the subject files included legal records, vital records, administrative records, professionals’ records and financial records. The study identified numerical keyword list as tool for classification of records at MOH central registry. However, files were assigned unique numbers and they were arranged and classified according to their given unique reference numbers and the sequences were written on the records.
The index to policy and subject files for classification were also used for example; records were sorted, arranged and classified according to their subject. The study identified challenges of classification and filing of active records as misfiling of documents, misplacement of records, limited filing equipment, duplication of files, file delay from action. Thus the study recommended provision of adequate filing equipment, closing and archiving duplicated files, digitization of records to minimize time spent transferring files from one office to another, use of databases for quick search to ease retrieval of records hence avoiding delay of decision making, promoting field training of records staff to enhance their skills and get informed about the current records management procedures to promote efficiency. | en_US |
