Health care has taken a digital turn with government hospitals in the city logging on to digital payments and cashless transactions, but not everyone is gung-ho.
At least three government hospitals - All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) and Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) - have either installed point of sale (card-swipe) machines, or are in the process of installing them to minimise cash transactions.
While PMCH has already installed two swipe machines, one each at the CT scan and the MRI facility on Thursday , AIIMS-Patna and IGIMS have initiated the process of installing 10 and five swipe machines respectively.
PMCH superintendent Lakhendra Prasad said the machines had been installed at only the two diagnostic services because both entail immediate payments.
"We do not feel the necessity of installing the swipe machines at the OPD and indoor related registration counter because at PMCH we charge only Rs 5 for both the outpatient and the indoor related admission while for CT Scan and MRI, patients have to pay a big amount of money because they are running on a public-private partnership mode," said Prasad.
Sources said at PMCH, patients have to pay something between Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000 for getting CT scan and MRI tests done.
Vinod Kumar, the official looking after the services of CT Scan and MRI facility, said: "Since Thursday, three people had used the swiping facility for paying their diagnostic service related bills."
AIIMS superintendent Umesh Bhadani said of the 10 machines, the process of installing three had been started at the hospital on Friday.
"While one machine is being installed at the billing counter (for OPD and indoor), the other two are being installed in the two radiological services (ultrasound and X-ray). The location of installing the rest has not been finalised," said a source.
IGIMS director N.R. Biswas said he had placed an order for five swipe machines on Friday.
He said the machines will be installed within two days. While one swipe machine is being installed at the emergency bill counter, another is being installed at the OPD bill counter while the rest three are being installed at the counter number 29 wherein various diagnostic investigation and discharge related bill transaction is done.
"We started taking cheques after demonetisation but many cheques bounced and we decided to install the swipe machine," said additional medical superintendent Manish Mandal.
Patients visiting these government hospitals had a mixed reaction to the move.
Ravi Paswan, 34, who paid Rs 3,400 in cash for his father's CT scan at PMCH, said he did not have a debit card. "How would this facility be useful for me when I do not use cards for money transactions? I am a daily wager. I don't earn a lot of money that I will use cards. Most patients who come to PMCH or any other government hospital hail from poor backgrounds and do not use cards to pay bills. I don't think this move will benefit many," said Ravi.
Rambahadur Tiwari, a patient's attendant at PMCH, said: "People who earlier did not know how to use debit cards and credit cards have now started to learn how to use them. It might take people a little bit more time to learn this but if people are acquainted with the process this would only ease their process of paying of bills."
