Moving towards creating a more inclusive environment at premier health institution in the Capital, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has now made it mandatory for any patient whether old or new to have booked an appointment before coming to the Out Patient Department. If the patient doesn’t have an appointment booked already, they will have to try getting one in the tatkal section, which will be limited.

The move comes as the first step into stopping the menace of overcrowding. According to AIIMS officials, people jump queues and see doctors out of turn. “In order to stop all this, we need a strong system. This process makes it easier for patients to get their check-ups done,” said the official.

Almost all OPD clinics all over AIIMS were integrated into a unified platform for appointment booking for patients on Monday. “All patients will now be seen only after booking the appointment at AIIMS. There is a 25 per cent tatkal quota for new walk-in patients for each department and these patients will also be seen only after booking of current appointment,” said an official statement from the hospital.

To ensure that the procedure is followed well, a list of appointments will be printed in the morning each day and put on the doctors table as well as the wall outside the room for display. “To make it simpler for patients to take appointments, a new system known as ‘IVR-based Appointment System’ was made functional on pilot basis. Now patients can take appointments from the comfort of their home or from anywhere in the world,” said officials.

Director AIIMS, Dr MC Misra said that the hospital has been catering to an ever increasing patient volume and although the statistics seem overwhelming, a lot can be done to improve patient care as well as to bring satisfaction amongst both the patients and care givers. He said, “You may remember how the railways and banking industry reinvented themselves in India using computerisation in the 1990s. I firmly believe that by leveraging this patient load, computerisation can similarly bring a turnaround in patient care at AIIMS besides revolutionising research and education activities.”