Sambalpur, July 15: Authorities at Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (Vimsar), Burla, have set up a help desk on the hospital premises to assist patients.
The desk will allow the patients and their attendants to get all the information regarding treatment and facilities at the hospital.
"Several patients do not have even basic information regarding doctors in wards, out-patient departments (OPDs) and other such things. Moreover, they also find it difficult to locate the different departments on the hospital premises. The desk will assist them," hospital manager K. Mahanta said.
"We have established the desk to ensure that the patients and their attendants do not face problems in getting information regarding facilities and treatment offered here. It will provide them all the relevant information regarding doctors, tests, wards and admission procedure, among other things," he said.
The hospital authorities have also engaged three staff nurses with the desk to assist patients and visitors to the hospital. Vimsar's OPD handles around 1,500 patients regularly. "We have decided to keep the help desk open from 9am to 5pm," said Mahanta.
A floor map of the hospital will shortly be installed with locations of the OPD, wards, operation theatre and several departments chalked out at the help desk. "We will relocate some of the OPDs shortly. The floor map will be installed once the relocation is complete," Mahanta said.
"Vimsar provides certain medical facilities for free or at subsidised rates to poor people who can produce certain necessary documents. However, they often face difficulties and often fail to avail of the facilities because of a lack of basic information. The desk will be a boon for them," said local resident Bhuwan Biswal.
"The staff at the help desk will tell them everything they need to know and help them avail the facilities. It was essential here," he said.
"It is a welcome step. People from west Odisha and also the neighbouring states depend on the hospital. The absence of such a help desk caused problems for many of them," said Rajesh Saha, the attendant of a patient.
