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2 months after info system shut down, Sassoon still under chaos
Sassoon General hospital reeling under chaos caused by its offline system, ever since the health care management information system shut abruptly on July 5
Sassoon General hospital (SGH) is still reeling under the chaos caused by its offline system, ever since the state government shut the health care management information system ( HMIS) abruptly on July 5, following which hospital staff need to manually maintain the data of OPD patients.Two months on, patients are still complaining about long queues, being sent to the wrong department and other issues, however, the hospital is still relying on the age-old offline method, with no other method in sight.
On Wednesday, HT visited the hospital and was greeted by a long queue at the OPD.
Tony Thankachan, a resident of BT Kawade road was brought to Sassoon by his friend Anand Kansal, after he suffered from a dog bite on Wednesday morning, while he was on his cycle in Camp area. Kansal who stood in the line for more than an hour said, “For paying ₹20 as registration fee, one has to stand in line for an hour just for paper work.”
Thankchan said, “I wonder why does a hospital like Sassoon not have any system of digital payments. The government is encouraging everyone to go cashless, yet, a state-run hospital has no facility. This would save time of both, the patients and hospital staff.”
Prajakta Shinde, who accompanied her elderly in-law has been standing in line since 9 am. “This process is time consuming. The HMIS system was helpful and patients could get immediate treatment. Now, it is nothing but a waiting game to fill out a simple form and get the procedure started,” she said.
Many patients have complained about being sent to the wrong department for further medical tests since HMIS was discontinued.
Dr Vinayak Kale, dean, BJ General Medical College and Sassoon General hospital stated, “We are back to offline system, and 14 clerks, hired on contracts enter details manually. We get 3,500 persons on an average daily basis and on somedays the patients are more. The clerks ensure efficiency and see to it that no inconvenience is caused.”
