Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Thursday directed officials to roll out the Health Information Management System (HIMS) in 56 hospitals across the state in the project's initial phase.

Chairing a meeting with the officials of the health department, Sukhu instructed them to initiate the HIMS project promptly enabling the doctors to fetch the complete medical history of the patients from a cloud-based server.

"The HIMS would prove to be a milestone in providing seamless treatment facilities to the patients as there will be no need to carry physical copies of prescription and medical tests with them," the chief minister said.  The doctors would get access to all the requisite information on the click of a button only by entering the phone number of the patient, he said.

With a motive to reach out to the underprivileged sections of society and provide them with quality healthcare facilities, the government also intends to offer high-end services in all the medical colleges of the state, he added.

"Adarsh Swasthya Sansthans' have been set up in all the 68 assembly constituencies of the state and six specialist doctors have been deputed in 35 such institutions, the chief minister said, assuring that the remaining 33 such sansthans will be also be soon equipped with specialist doctors.

During the meeting, Sukhu also reviewed the progress on establishment of robotic surgery facilities in three medical colleges, namely Indira Gandhi medical College in Shimla, Atal Institute of Medical Super Specialties Chamiyana in Shimla and Tanda Medical College in Kangra. He directed the department concerned to accelerate the process of setting up such facilities so that the public can benefit at the
earliest.    

Directs State Cooperative Bank to formulate a One-Time Settlement policy

Chief Minister Sukhu on Thursday directed the State Cooperative Bank to formulate a One-Time Settlement (OTS) policy to facilitate its customers.  In a meeting with the bank's Chairman Devender Shyam and Managing Director Shravan Manta, he instructed the Bank to work together with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and the Reserve Bank of India to develop a comprehensive OTS policy.  He said that this initiative was aimed to provide substantial succor to thousands of farmers, horticulturists and other borrowers associated with the Bank.  SUkhu said that the OTS policy would offer an opportunity to the borrowers of the Bank to settle their outstanding dues at a discounted rate, thereby avoiding legal actions and improving their credit score after successful settlement.