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Healthcare services at city hospitals: Online portals not first choice of patients
Despite the availability of online portals to avail healthcare services at city hospital, the offline registration system continues to remain a popular choice.
Despite the availability of online portals to avail healthcare services at city hospital, the offline registration system continues to remain a popular choice.
The data gathered from hospitals like Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, and Government Multi Speciality Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, shows dismal results as on average, only around 5% of the patients choose online portals for registrations.
In last year, only 6% of the patients who wanted to consult a doctor at PGIMER registered online. From October 2018 to October 2019, around 29,44,700 patients visited the institute for OPD consultation, of which only 1,88,216 registered through the online portal.
At GMSH-16, less than one percent of the patients registered online. The data since January 2019 shows that of the 9,63,050 patients who visited the hospital, only 450 registered online.
However, GMCH-32 has shown better performance as far as utilisation of online services is concerned – around 10% of the patients who visited the hospital, registered online to avail various services. Of the 7,97,461 patients, 85,002 registered for out patient department (OPD) services and booking slots for direct consultations with
doctors.
Also, in the last two months, only 17 patients have paid fees for tests through the GMCH-32 portal , officials informed.
Authorities at the three hospitals said awareness about the online portals needs to be created so that patients can fully utilise the facility.
GMCH-32 director-cum-principal Dr BS Chavan said they are creating more awareness through hoardings and posters regarding the online services.
“To increase awareness, we have to vehemently work towards installing hoardings and posters in the hospital premises. We are also in the process of setting up kiosks to make the residents aware about the services,” he said.
GMSH-16 medical superintendent Dr VK Nagpal said we have special counters for generating OPD cards for the patients who apply through the online portal.
“The government has initiated the process all across the country and pushed for the
utilisation of technology in the life of the common man. We have already put in place the system required for a
hassle-free implementation of the government’s initiative. What is required is that people come forward and utilise the available services,” Nagpal said.
