BENGALURU: Starting March 2020, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology (KMIO) will be going paperless. If the initiative comes into effect, then it will be the first government hospital in the state to adopt the initiative.
The brainchild behind the initiative, Director, KMIO Dr C Ramachandra, disclosed that many patients have to go to the medical record section and collect reports. Then, they head to a department where they collect other reports and again to another department, which is quite tedious. “By making it paper-free, the patients will not have to wait in queues for getting the file. Doctors will get everything on the computers by just entering the patient’s registration number.” said Dr Ramachandra.
He disclosed that their online site has been upgraded and patients can take appointments easily on the website, while the ones who are unaware of the system, can easily walk into the hospital and take an on-the-spot appointment.
The hospital will be connected to Local area Networks (LAN), where doctors can access the process — while the senior doctors will be given laptops, junior doctors will get desktops. “We have called for tenders and it will be processed within a few weeks’ time and we will be one step closer to go paperless,” said Dr Ramachandra.
The hospital authorities revealed that it has files from the year 1973, and many people haven’t collected them yet. Nearly 2 lakh files are lying unattended. “We want to do away with all the documents within the next 10 years and move it to our website. We will put up a message on our website asking the patientsto come and take the files before we put them in trash,” he said.
CCTV cameras to protect women
The hospital is also coming forward to install CCTV cameras across the campus for the safety of women in the hospital. “We have around 700 students and among them 70 per cent of the students are girls. We want to ensure their safety by installing CCTV cameras,”Dr Ramachandra added. However, the estimated cost for the entire project is Rs 10 crore.