BMC's gift: System to end hospital queues to start on December 31

Patients will be able to get appointments under HIMS and need not have to wait in queues. Representation pic

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has a New Year's gift for Mumbaikars. The civic-run Nair Hospital, which sees around 1,000 footfalls every day, will start the long-pending Health Information Management System (HIMS) by December 31.

Soon, patients at Nair Hospital will get unique health cards (under the HIMS), which will hold a specific number that will help doctors/ hospitals get information about them. On feeding this number into their data, they will get the patient's personal details, health history and real-time health records including medical records of examinations. The BMC will outsource jobs of as many as 66 operating personnel to update the records online.

Easier to get appointments
Gone are the days when patients had to wait in long queues in hospitals. Soon, they will be able to get appointments under the HIMS, and the single health card with unique bar codes will give access to their medical records, at a cost of Rs 10. The scheme will start at major hospitals on a pilot basis.

"The municipal commissioner and senior health officers recently held a meeting where he gave instructions to roll out the module by December 31," said a senior BMC officer.

'Need more officers'
The BMC has trained nurses and doctors to update the data in the centralised system. The hospital has also hired around 30 data operating officers. But considering the number of patients, they need around 40 more officers to work with doctors.

"We have been working on HIMS for a long time. The nurses and doctors have also been trained. It will start on a full-fledged basis by the end of the month. But we need more officers for it," said Dr Ramesh Bharmal, dean of the hospital.

'Will be able to keep tabs'
The proposal to start the system was taken after collecting suggestions from over 500 doctors. "With this system, we will also be able to keep tabs on the shortage of medicines, and hold people accountable if there is any wrongdoing," said Idzes Kundan, additional commissioner (health), BMC.

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