Out-patient services at govt hospitals get digitised

The OTP ticket with the PIN is used as an identification number for reference. All medical records including diagnosis, prescription, lab reports, follow treatment reports, references and other info will be updated using the same PIN.

The system was already in place in a few Taluk hospitals and a few months ago, district headquartered hospitals were provided with the automation procedure. “The staff has been trained to generate automated outpatient tickets. Earlier, hand-written outpatient slips were being given to all patients. Now, printed slips will be the one common mode to link all reports and the patients need not carry the files everytime they come for treatment,” said Dr P Vasanthamani, Dean, Kilpauk Medical College.

The system will also prevent loopholes wherein a lot of patients meet the doctors through recommendations and do not register themselves with the hospitals. “The hand-written OP slips will not be used and everyone has to follow specific procedures to seek treatment. Though lab reports will be handwritten, diagnosis associated with the PIN can be recorded in computers,” said a resident medical officer at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital.

Officials with the Directorate of Medical Services say that the State Health Department is planning to introduce automation system for in-patient services at all government hospitals as well. However, it will be done in a phased manner from next year. Officials with the Directorate of Medical Services also said that staff will be trained to take on the work and handle computer breakdown issues and the like.