PANAJI
For a State that has been projected as a model State especially in the digital front, the health sector has yet to get on the electronic platform. Plans to have the concept of eHospital were in place in July this year, but the basic infrastructure has yet to be in place.
Since its implementation in July, 60 hospitals across the country have been listed in the system that allows for appointments to be taken online and for doctors to review test reports through the system. Goa, however, has yet to be included in this list.
On a daily basis, the online portal gets over a thousand booking appointments at the 60 hospitals currently functioning under the scheme. Since the implementation of the eHospital, there have been a total of 5,22,786 appointments taken.
Called the Online Registration System (ORS), a hospital listed as an eHospital is linked to various hospitals for Aadhar-based online registration and appointment system. Hospitals listed under the system work on a Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) where a counter-based Out Patient Department (OPD) registration and appointment system is created.
The online portal allows for patients to request for appointments from different departments of the hospital using a Unique Health Identification (UHID) number linked to the patient’s Aadhar card. According to the central government rules, patients without an Aadhar card will also be given a UHID that can later be linked to the card.
Having an eHospital in place has proved to reduce the long wait in lines that were seen in hospitals in New Delhi and Mumbai, a move that will work to GMC’s advantage with its nearly thousand patient intake per day.
Back in July, the Goa Medical College (GMC) Dean Dr Pradeep Naik had said the hospital was in the process of being setup with HMIS and has now said it will take another month to be implemented.
Speaking to The Goan, Dr Naik said, “The computerisation of OPDs and registration counters are currently underway and the work is going on. It will be done in another month’s time. The entire plan will be implemented as part of the Digital India campaign and will ease patient’s problems of having to wait in line.
He added that patients would not have to run from one place to the other with reports, which would be uploaded to a cloud based system run by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
The entire procedure involves registering using Aadhar Number. On receiving a UHID, patients can then chose to book an appointment at a particular department of a listed hospital. An SMS is then sent once the appointment is confirmed.
Dashboards for each patient will include detail test reports that can be viewed by any doctor that has access to the portal. Detail reports showing information about new and old patients taking appointment through this portal can also be seen.
Other services provided under the system includes status of blood availability in blood banks, ORS Android based Mobile App on Google Play Store and viewing daily reports.
