BENGALURU: Soon, patients will not have to wait for an official to visit their hospital wards to convey their complaints, demands or appreciation. They can send their responses on WhatsApp groups that are being formed solely for the purpose.Three prime Covid-designated government hospitals — Victoria, Bowring and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases — will have a dedicated WhatsApp group for each ward.
The decision was taken after senior bureaucrats along with Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar visited the three hospitals recently. “We decided on such groups since officials cannot enter the wards to take stock of the situation. The groups will be monitored by in-charge hospital superintendents, nodal officers at each hospital and ministers in charge,” said a senior government official.
“Cleaners and staffers are scared to enter these wards. Also, we do not know how the patients are being treated and whether they are even being attended to or not. Apart from monitoring wards through CCTV cameras, the patients will be given this platform to express directly,” the official said. Once a patient is admitted, he/she will be included in the WhatsApp group and soon after discharge, they will be deleted from the group. “Patients or their family members too can report directly to officials and the issues will be addressed immediately. We will also know the way the hospital staff is handling the patients,” the official said.
Dr Nagaraja C, Director, RGICD, said that all data is uploaded on the portal and shared with the government, and it is up to the government to decide on what needs to be done.Dr Ramesh K N, nodal officer, Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, said there are no WhatsApp groups yet, and he isn’t aware of any government decision.