KOLKATA: Technology that helped the Election Commission monitor polling percentages in the assembly polls will now be used for better management of hospital beds in Bengal.Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had found patients from far-flung areas waiting for hours at OPDs for doctors and beds. The health department is about to introduce 'mobile governance' of state hospitals to enable the CM and Swasthya Bhavan to monitor the healthcare system.
Health secretary Sanjay Mitra is initiating the network, which will be based on information received via SMSs from health centres and district hospitals. He plans to bring around 400 health centres and hospitals under regular vigilance.
"Hospital superintendents will be asked to send SMSs about the OPDs operating in each hospital or health centre by 9.30am. The SMSs will go directly to the website of the health department on real-time basis. This will help the bosses at Swasthya Bhavan know how many OPDs are functioning in each hospital."
If any superintendent does not send the SMS, they will get a message from the central server. Those who slip for three consecutive days will be blacklisted. If the health officers find that a number of OPDs are not operating in any hospital, they can call its superintendent. So far, there was no check on hospital superintendents. Now, they can be given regular directives after getting data from the website.
The health department even has plans to get data about the number of patients waiting at OPDs. A patient's wait begins from the time he/she registers at an OPD. The health department also has plans to collect and collate data about total admissions in the hospitals through this SMS-based technology. This can help centrally monitor the number of vacant beds and cases of refusal can be checked.
The superintendents will also be asked to inform about the number of cases referred to other hospitals. This will make way for calculating referrals and actual vacancies in hospitals where patients have been referred. Moreover, the CM is against the trend of referring patients to city hospitals and wants a daily data of such referrals.
As reported in: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Vigil-on-healthcare-via-mobiles/articleshow/9974889.cms