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At Sassoon hospital patients suffer, staff overburdened as info system shuts down
As hospital goes offline, patients complain of being sent to the wrong department, dean refutes claims of chaos
On the second day since shutting down of its healthcare management information system (HMIS), Sassoon General hospital (SGH) is reeling under the chaos caused by its offline system which was started to bring relief to overburdened hospital staff and ease serpentine hospital queues. However, hospital management refuted all such claims.
Several patients are complaining about being sent to the wrong department for further medical tests ever since the offline system started. Doctors and hospital staff are questioning why another system wasn’t put in place before shutting down the existing HMIS system.
A senior doctor at the hospital, on condition of anonymity, said that the hospital staff is witnessing several hurdles since shutting down of the HMIS system from midnight on Tuesday. “This offline system was working from before 2009. Now that the HMIS is shut, all reports have to be sent and monitored offline. For doctors in operation theatres, accessing hard copies of reports will be easy. For patients wanting to get a second opinion from private hospitals, offline reports will be easy. But for internal accessibility of reports, from one department to another, the process is hassled,” the senior doctor said.
Another doctor, not wanting to be named, said that going offline has pushed the hospital back to an age where there was no technology. “Authorities can put a new and more efficient system in place. However, abruptly shutting down the existing system has led to inconvenience for patients and doctors. The hospital staff is carrying at least 250 reports from one department to another. There are issues with printers in many departments,” he said.
However, the office of the dean refused to acknowledge the challenges being faced by the staff. Dr Vinayak Kale, dean, BJ General Medical College and Sassoon General hospital, maintained that the offline system is working smoothly. “Many senior doctors were not comfortable with the online system. But as the system has gone offline again, these doctors are finding it comfortable to work. On Thursday, the hospital saw around 1,700 patients in the outpatient department (OPD). We have arranged a few of our clerical staff and they are working in three shifts to ensure that registration of patients is carried out smoothly,” said Dr Kale.
About the patients’ feedback on the ensuing chaos and never-ending queues at the hospital, Dr Kale completely denied any such occurrence at the hospital. “Sassoon is a tertiary care hospital and it is flooded with patients for the OPD and for surgeries. We are managing the situation well,” he said. Dr Kale also mentioned that there has been no intimation by the department of medical education and research (DMER) about another system which may replace the HMIS at the hospital. Till the new system is in place, the system shall stay offline.
The current HMIS system was introduced in 2009 and implemented at 16 hospitals across Maharashtra, including SGH, in subsequent years. With a staff crunch at the hospital, SGH conducted walk-in interviews for data entry operators (contract of 120 days) on Thursday.
