Report by Jyoti Prakash; Bhubaneswar: In another step towards delivery of qualitative health service, Govt has initiated steps for installing hospital automation system in three Govt medical colleges of the state. This has been decided in a high level meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik in secretariat conference hall today. The proposal for installing the same system in Capital hospital has also been given a green signal in the meeting.

Discussions in the meeting reveal that the objective of hospital automation system is to implement a Hospital Information Management System ( HIMS) which will provide effective solutions towards improving patient’s care and streamlining operational control and supervision.

It will provide improved response to the demands of patients care as it automates the process of collecting , collating and retrieving patient information. The patient will not be required to run from one to end to other for collection of prescriptions, numbering, samples and reports for various pathological tests. The clinical pathways mapped to the automated system will improve diagnosis and treatment process also. The system will provide the doctors and hospital staff with decision support system that they require for accurate delivery of patient care.

 Each patient will have a unique ID no to which all his diagnostic and treatment records will flow in automatically. The doctors will not be required to mull over different probabilities in administration of the medicine and treatment. The system will also add to day to day hospital administration by significantly improving operational control. The system will have many additional benefits like easier patient record management, faster information flow among various departments, grater organizational flexibility, reduced waiting time of patients at counters and reduced registration time for patients.

As per earlier decisions of Govt a team of Doctors and Officers led by Prof. P.C.Mohapatra Dean & Principal SCB Medical College & Hospital, Cuttack made an exposure visit to  Tata Memorial Hospital  to look in the functioning of their system. The other members of the team were Dr Sitaram Mohapatra, Jt.Director, Mr.Debasis Das , IT consultant and Mr.B.K.Panada, Programme Manager. The team made a presentation about their observations and suggestions. The approximate cost of the system for one Medical College & Hospital has been estimated around Rs,18 Cr. . The approximate cost for automation of  all the three medical college and hospitals have been calculated around Rs.46 Cr. This will include hard ware, soft ware, installation, programme management, training, site preparation, connectivity and other administrative expense.

Chief Secretary Patnaik, considering the need of the patients has directed to start the system with Patient Care Services and Clinical Service modules in the first phase. This will track the patient form registration to discharge from the hospital. It has been decided that National Institute of Smart Governance , Department of Information technology , Govt of India will be asked to prepare the Detail Project Report for setting up the system. Chief Secretary has asked the Health & Family Welfare Department to call the team of experts from the National Institute within a week and prepare the DPR within 2 to 3 months. Prof Mohapatra, the Principal SCB Medical College made the presentation and the senior doctors along with officers from Health & Family Welfare Department participated in discussion.