Chandigarh: Wait some more for online test reports, appointments at PGI

CHANDIGARH: Patients at the PGI will have to wait for some months more to get online test reports, kiosks for registration at the hospital and online appointments due to the new conditions imposed by the institute on the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), an autonomous scientific society of the Union ministry of electronics and information technology.
The CDAC has not only escalated the price of the project, but also extended its timeline due to these conditions.
"The finance part is to be finalized. We will meet the CDAC officials soon on this. They are looking for relaxations in penalty we have imposed for any delay or breakdown. The project has already been delayed and we do not want to add to this," said PGI deputy director Kumar Gaurav Dhawan.
Both the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing and the PGI had been holding talks on the hospital information system project. However, soon after the budget was recently received by the PGI for the purpose, the institution had imposed the conditions. "This should have been before we placed the budget of the project. Now we have prepared a revised budget that includes the cost of downtime and additional manpower to maintain the kiosk, if case there is any fault. This has escalated both cost and time for the project," said an official in Centre for Development of Advanced Computing , Mohali.
The PGI has imposed that if the kiosk breaks down, there must be a standby as gradually all fee and patient registration counters will be taken over by these kiosks. "We cannot take the risk of any breakdown without a standby. The patients cannot suffer due to this," said a faculty.
There are 32 counters that will be replaced by these kiosks, but the project will start with 10 at a time. The machine has to be fed with some personal details of the patients that are generally known to the relatives. On pressing these details, the patient's ward and bed number can be known to access their location.
Patients will also be able to register for OPDs on these kiosks.
In addition, viewing and printing of laboratory reports from these kiosks by the patients themselves will also be possible.