THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The new referral and back referral system to reduce the burden of medical college hospitals and to ensure better treatment facilities for patients closer home will be first implemented in the state capital, said Health Minister Veena George. Under the new system only those requiring super specialty treatment will be referred to the medical college hospitals to avoid overcrowding of hospitals. To ensure this, the existing system will be revamped and the health department will devise a comprehensive programme for effective implementation of the referral system, the minister said in a statement after a departmental meeting on Wednesday.
Veena George said that there will be a referral register in every hospital. It will henceforth be made mandatory for doctors to record in the register the kind of treatment administered and the reason for referring the patient to a higher medical institution.
“There should be a good enough reason for referrals and the hospital superintendent should inspect it and submit a report before the district medical officer. The treatment facility of the hospital and condition of the patient should be the criteria for referrals. The referral register will be monitored at the district and state level once in a month. Unnecessary referrals will invite action,” she said.Further, the minister said that the patient should be referred to the nearest super speciality hospital instead of a medical college hospitals located far away. The decision, if implemented, is likely to reduce the burden of Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, which gets patients from other districts as well.
On an average, the hospital gets 8,000 outpatients and 1,000 casualty admissions daily. The existing referral system is far from perfect. The doctors in Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) complained about unnecessary referrals creating an excess workload that hindered research activities.Kerala Government Medical College Teachers’ Association (KGMCTA) too favoured a back-referral system, where the patients who received treatment at GMCs can continue the follow-up treatment at the hospital closer home. The minister has also agreed to frame guidelines for back-referrals.
The decision to strengthen referrals and back-referrals comes at a time when the government has started improving the super speciality treatments at the district-level hospitals.Currently, speciality treatments are available at taluk hospitals and upwards. Some General Hospitals have started super speciality treatments such as heart and neuro surgeries.
The department had in January started control rooms at all Medical Colleges to enable referrals and back referrals. While shifting a patient from periphery to a Medical College, the control rooms should be informed of the referral and the availability of ICU or ventilator there must also be ensured, the minister said in the statement.