Times of India
06 May 2010
By Shailvee Sharda
Lucknow, India

The quintessential sarkari face of government hospitals in UP is in for a major change. And the tool behind this transformation is information technology. The state family welfare department has decided to install hospital information system (HIS) in its hospitals under the national rural health mission.

As many as 15 hospitals have been shortlisted to begin with. The selected ones in Lucknow are Ram Manohar Lohia, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civil, Veerangana Avanti Bai and Veerangana Jhalkari Bai hospitals. “The work of laying cables has already begun in Jhalkari Bai Hospital,” said Ajay Mishra, who is closely associated with the project.

Notably, HIS involves application–based software development and its implementation to improve the overall functioning of any unit. “A patient stands at the very core of a hospital. Quality of work inside it reflects on the patient’s treatment. HIS has proved its worth at a number of places,” said Dr RS Dubey, chief medical superintendent, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, which was awarded the Quality Council of India accreditation last year.

“The success of HIS may be seen clearly at Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences... but the volume of patients that report at a government hospital makes the job a challenge,” said Dr LB Prasad, former director general of health services when asked to comment. Notably, the British Journal of Medicine has appreciated the HIS for enhancing the quality of general work and coordinating for patient care services. Those working on the project agree with Dr Prasad’s view. In the wake of the same, they have decided to proceed in a phased manner.

Based on a survey of some 30 hospitals, the work was divided into five main categories, viz, registration, drug store, drug distribution counter, pathological services and doctor’s prescription. Infrastructure development for registration, drug store and pathological services has been identified for the first phase. HIS would revolutionise the way things work inside a hospital. For instance, at present, each time a patient reports at a hospital he needs to register afresh. But HIS would award a unique identity to the patient and would save time.

Similarly, the picture on availability of medicines is usually hazy in any government hospital. HIS would alert the hospital authorities when the stock goes down from a certain level. Experts are of the view that features in HIS would help in disease surveillance as well.

“Many patients reporting jaundice in a single day for example would put the health machinery on an alert. Presently, the doctors do observe such trends but their information goes waste as it is not recorded. Once there will be facts and figures, things would start operating better,” said a former medical officer.

PPP pill for healthcare Lucknow: State government has finally decided to implement the PPP model for health care services. In the wake of the same, proceedings are underway to handover public hospitals to private chains like Apollo and Fortis under the publicprivate–partnership (PPP) in a bid to improve health care services. Besides this, eight community health centres, 23 primary health centres and 210 sub–centres would be transferred to the private players.

As per the proposal, around 50% of the beds would be reserved for poor patients to whom the private player would be expected to render free services. The private player would be allowed to fix its own charges for the remaining beds. Another pre–condition of the model includes that each time the private partner would add new beds and facilities, it would have to reserve 25% for poor patients.

Sources say that that in the wake of the same, the process for four cities namely Kanpur Nagar, Allahabad, Firozabad and Basti has begun shortly. “Nine companies have been shortlisted for the PPP model. The list includes leading names like Apollo, Fortis and Max. The final decision would be taken after detailed evaluation by a committee on may 10,” he said.

SPRUCED UP

• HIS is a comprehensive, integrated information system designed to manage administrative, financial and clinical aspects of a hospital. The present initiative has been taken by the family welfare directorate of UP under the National Rural Health Mission.
• Benefits
• Quick, reliable, down–to–the–penny financial data
• Well–organised records, easy to access
• Reduces transaction time
• Gives a modern and professional business image
• Reduces paperwork
• Enables easy tracking of results which helps in disease surveillance
• Reduces transaction error and shrinkage
• Better inventory control and accelerates cash