http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/28/stories/2008022851790300.htm
The Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) appears to be benefiting from a social commitment on the part of private medical institutions in the city. E-governance, guest lectures and training of nursing staff/students are some of the areas of cooperation, says Dean Hemalatha Ganapathy.
A significant and latest contribution is the assistance in e-governance from the Kovai Medical Center and Hospital (KMCH), one of the corporate, super speciality institutions. Its President U.K. Ananthapadmanabhan had studied for days the manual procedures at the CMCH to identify areas where e-governance can reduce wastage of time on paperwork. “He spent many hours taking pictures of the system in our hospital,” says the Dean.
After spending 15 to 20 hours at the CMCH, spread over five to six trips, Mr. Ananthapadmanabhan had shown the bar code system in his hospital and the filmed procedures at the CMCH to District Collector Neeraj Mittal. “I made a power point presentation before the Collector, showing areas where e-governance had a vital role to play in improving the functioning in the Government hospital,” he says.
“What has been initiated at the medical college hospital will be a model for the public healthcare sector in the State and even the entire country,” says Mr. Ananthapadmanabhan.
Data
Now, the Hospital Information System wing headed by Assistant Resident Medical Officer at the CMCH will monitor patient coverage, drugs stock and send data to the Director of Medical Education in Chennai.
While the Dean appreciates a private hospital’s keenness to contribute to a Government medical college hospital’s improvement, Mr. Ananthapadmanabhan says: “This initiative involves a lot of selfishness on my part. I learnt a lot from the patient load on the CMCH. I could understand the psychology of 6,000 patients.”
The primary aim of the e-governance is cutting down time consumption at the CMCH. On further improvements, he says biometrics is the next stage that hospitals have to aim for. This will help avoid running costs of bar coding.
On the interface with other private hospitals, Dr. Hemalatha Ganapathy says this happens through a lot of academic programmes.
