The private grant cell of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research is now fully computerised, wherein the patients, doctors and vendors will receive alerts via short message services on their mobile phones about the status of the fund, adding to their convenience.
Prof. YK Chawla, Director of the institute, inaugurated the computerised service on Wednesday wherein patients, doctors and the suppliers will get the SMS alerts in real time to get the information relevant to them.
Every year the premier institute receives fund to the tune of around Rs10 crores from State Governments, ESIC Fund, Chief Minister’s Relief Funds, the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for free and subsidised treatment of patients who are covered under these schemes due to their poor financial conditions. Due to staff crunch and sloppiness of the PGI authorities, it was difficult for the beneficiary to know the exact details of the status of their fund which in turn created a lot of problem for them. Due to lack of proper information gateway patients, doctors, and vendors received the fund for one reason or the other were in troubled waters. For doctors it was difficult to plan their services, given the uncertainty about the details of the fund. Prof Arun K Aggarwal, Additional Medical Superintendent, PGI said,
“The number of grants has increased seven folds since 2005 and it was not easy to manage them. This SMS service is likely to be the first of its kind in any Government Hospital across the country. This system will introduce transparency and keep all stakeholders informed and may lead to reducing the delays in the treatment that happen due to lack of communication between the patient, doctor, PGC and suppliers.”
“As soon as the funds are received by the private grant cell, patients will be informed about it through a SMS. Patients and the doctor concern will be simultaneously kept informed about the status of the quotation, supply order to the vendors and receipt of material and also its payment status adding to their convenience,” added Aggarwal.
PC Pant, Personal Assistant in PGC, who initiated and nurtured the idea, demonstrated the computer software during the inaugural function at PGI.