Improving quality of patient care top on agenda, says new IGIMS director

Improving the quality of patient care, education and medical research will be on top of the agenda, said Dr Ashutosh Biswas, professor and unit head, department of medicine at the AIIMS, New Delhi, who has been named the new director of IGIMS.

Improving the quality of patient care, education and medical research will be on top of the agenda, said Dr Ashutosh Biswas, professor and unit head, department of medicine at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, who has been named the new director of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), an autonomous medical college of the government of Bihar.

Attendants of patients stand in a queue for registration at IGIMS, in Patna, on Tuesday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

Dr Biswas Tuesday said it could take him around a fortnight to complete the formalities of being relieved for deputation from AIIMS Delhi to join the IGIMS.

Bihar’s health department on Monday notified his appointment as director of the institute, after his predecessor Dr NR Biswas completed his extended term of eight years on February 25.

Talking over phone from New Delhi, Dr Biswas said his key message to healthcare professionals would be to change the mindset of healthcare workers (HCWs) to serve the patients respectfully, with dedication and smile.

Dr Biswas regretted that the healthcare professionals were losing the art of medicine. He also rued the fact that the healthy interaction between healthcare providers and patients was now lacking.

“The doctors have become so professional and mechanical that they do not think about the agony of patients. They lack the humanitarian touch. Much of the ailment is treated when doctors talk to patients politely, respectfully and with a smile, all of which give a good message to patients about the doctor and the health facility,” he added.

He said patient satisfaction should be the barometer to judge the quality of an institute. “Merely investing in infrastructure and making available high-end equipment, including MRI, CT scan and X-ray, was not enough if infrastructure was not put to optimal use to the satisfaction of patients,” said Dr Biswas.

He said in government institutes like the IGIMS, created with the dream to be one like AIIMS-Delhi in eastern India, one had to work assiduously to bring it up to a level of fame and repute, especially when it could not grow in the manner it was expected to during the last four decades.