Online registration facility at Patna AIIMS would soon rid patients the pain of queuing up for hours at the health hub and streamline the entire process.

A source told The Telegraph on Friday that Patna AIIMS would allow people to register online for treatment, giving a specific time to the patient concerned when he/she would have to visit the hospital.

The health hub is expected to start operations around January or February after which various patient-friendly measures are expected to take off. (See chart)

The administration, at present, has an online consultation facility where patients can speak to doctors on a chat window from the Patna AIIMS website (www.aiimspatna.org) for an hour.

“At Patna AIIMS, we want to provide hassle-free service to the patients and providing online registration is one such initiative towards that. People would get an online registration option on the Patna AIIMS website, where they would be able to get themselves registered for treatment at the hospital. The registration would be manual initially and the online registration facility would be gradually developed,” said a source.

Christian Medical College in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, already has a facility for online outpatient registration.

Among the other measures planned at the Patna AIIMS are maintaining an electronic record of a patient’s medical history and a system of administering medicines.

“The electronic health records would help doctors treat the patients concerned better. We have also decided to use a wireless bar code medication chart system, a technology that is being used in the best hospitals in the world. This system helps check errors in administering medicines to patients. It would help keep tabs on whether a patient is being given the correct medicine and in the right dosage or not. Hospitals, which are overcrowded with patients, often make mistakes in administering medicines. It can be very harmful.”

The hospital also plans to become a near-paperless facility. “Records of the faculty, including their academic and performance details, would be uploaded. We have decided to make the diagnostic results online too, but that would take time,” said one source.

Patna AIIMS is planning several facilities but it is not without problems. The slow pace of construction and purchase of equipment is delaying its operations. The outpatient department has recently started operating out of the main hospital building.

A source, however, said: “We are in the process of purchasing some essential equipment in the lack of which proper diagnosis of patients is not possible. At present, the department mostly offers consultation.”

Tech push to service

Patient-friendly steps to be taken by AIIMS, Patna

• Patients can avail of an online consultation facility from doctors between 10am and 5pm daily. At present, the facility is available for an hour from 2pm. People interested can visit AIIMS, Patna, website (www.aiimspatna.org) and click on “AIIMS Patna at your doorstep” tab to consult with doctors

• Patients can register online on AIIMS, Patna, website to consult with doctors at the hospital. They would no longer need to queue up for manual registration

• Hospital to maintain electronic health records of patients

• AIIMS, Patna, to put up contact numbers of doctors and faculty members on website for emergency consultation on phone. People in need for urgent medical help can call the person concerned. At present, contact numbers of faculty members recruited have been put up on website

• AIIMS, Patna, to use wireless bar code medication chart system, a technology to ensure a patient is given the right dosage