AIIMS smart lab continues to run manually

Connectivity between e-hosp & Laboratory Information System yet to be restored, depts get printed test reports
AIIMS smart lab continues to run manually

NEW DELHI: After the major cyber attack at AIIMS which disrupted digital services for 19 days, the hospital’s smart lab still continues to function manually. The attack paralysed e-hospital software which is gradually returning back on track but is yet to be functional in many patient-care areas.

According to the doctors, the connectivity between the e-hospital and the Laboratory Information System is yet to be restored, which is why the smart lab is unable to function digitally. The Laboratory Medicine Department has asked other departments to receive printed test reports from the smart lab even though bar codes are available in few departments.

“We are resuming receiving of samples with barcodes. However, reports would not be available on e-Hospital. Printed reports have to be collected from smart lab till further notification. The red and yellow forms still need to be sent even if samples are bar-coded,” the message read. On November 23, AIIMS said that the National Informatics Centre informed it that its servers were down, and that this may have been due to a ransom ware attack.

Following the incident, the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations of Delhi Police registered an FIR under Section 385 of the IPC (which refers to putting a person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion) and Section 66/66F of the IT Act, pertaining to cyber terrorism and computer-related offences against unknown persons.

While unconfirmed reports suggest hand of ‘Chinese’ hackers behind the attack, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar called the attack a conspiracy and said it was planned by ‘forces that are significant.’ The initial probe found that four servers, two application servers, one database server and one backup server of AIIMS cyber network were infected after the attack, said sources.

Many agencies probing incident, yet to find cause
Many central agencies such as NIA, DRDO, Delhi Police, Intelligence Bureau, CBI are probing the incident. While some reports suggest hand of ‘Chinese’ hackers, Minister of State for Electronics and IT called the attack a conspiracy

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