People queue up to register patients at the outpatient department of SCB Medical College and Hospital. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Oct. 30: Sunakar Mohanty today had a tiring time at SCB Medical College and Hospital where he went to treat his seven-year-old daughter, who was bitten by a stray dog in Jajpur yesterday.

The 44-year-old man had queued up at the outpatient department (OPD) around 8am and had to wait for several hours to consult a doctor owing to rush at the hospital.

“I came to the hospital around 7:30am and lined up outside the OPD to consult the doctor. Though I managed to get the registration ticket by 9:30am, it took me another two hours to finally seek medical attention for my daughter,” said Mohanty.

Hundreds of patients face similar problems owing to the rush at the hospital’s OPD.

Authorities at the SCB Medical College and Hospital sometimes also find it hard to deal with the rising number of patients queuing before the OPD since early morning.

In an effort to check the rush, the authorities are contemplating to start the ticketing registration service at the OPD from 8am, one hour before its scheduled time. At present, registration takes place from 9am to 5pm.

“Keeping the rush in view, we have decided to start the computerised ticket registration process one hour early from 8am. There has been no change in the functioning of the OPD hours,” said SCB superintendent D.N. Moharana, adding that there had been instances when patients returned after failing to consult a doctor.

SCB official sources said at present, the hospital was witnessing an average patient turnout of around 1,600 and a maximum patient turnout exceeding 2,000 on working days.

The change in the timing of the ticket registration process at the OPD is likely to be introduced from November. Many believe that starting the ticket registration process early would mean that the patients would have to wait for another hour to seek medical attention as the OPD hours have not changed.

Last May, the hospital authorities outsourced the ticket registration process and computerised the entire process at the OPD.

At present, there are 10 counters where patients have to register themselves before being directed to consult doctors at various departments according to their illness.