Soon,get medical consultancy with SGPGI through video-conference

The HIS at SGPGI is being updated to provide a web-based interface to patients. The patients can now access medical data,including test reports and also pay their hospital bills online.

The network has already been updated with a 10G bandwidth for the purpose and software and server for the same have been setup.

“The patients will be provided with a username and password and they can get reports and pay bills online. They can also get in touch with doctors through tele-consultancy either in the OPD or their chambers,” said Dr RK Sharma,Director,SGPGI.

“Tele-consultancy is still not a part of the system at the SGPGI. The integration of telemedicine with the hospital network will allow us take technology to the routine area of the hospital for encouraging participation of doctors,” said Dr S K Mishra,Nodal Officer of the School of Telemedicine and Biomedical Informatics,SGPGI.

Tele-consultancy between SGPGI experts and remote patients started in 2001 but was restricted to the consultancy room of the School.

“Till now,the tele-consultancy with remote patients meant that doctors had to be physically present at the School of Telemedicine at a fixed time. But,OPD being their first priority,it used to be difficult for doctors to spare time for such appointments,because of which the consultancy got delayed time and again,” explained Dr Mishra.

“The integrated tele-consultancy system will be functional in the next six months and will also help in reducing the waiting list of the OPD,” added Dr Mishra.

Repu Daman,network engineer at the School of Telemedicine,said: “If doctors came for tele-consultancy,the patient load at OPD increased and it got difficult to manage both sides. With the facility,patients can fix a time with the doctor during his OPD hours and can interact through tele-consultancy.”