THIRUVANANTHPURAM: The Medical College online registration project which is aimed at bringing an end to the ordeal of patients waiting in long queues for hours outside various Out Patient departments is likely to get delayed. The plan was to put in place the online registration system being implemented at the premier AIIMS Delhi where patients can take appointments online. Every day close to 3000 patients visit MCH and over 10,000 people accompany them. At the moment the project work is going on at a snail’s pace.
The authorities want to first complete pilot projects at three primary health centres – Veli, Uzhamalackal and Cheriniyoor, CHC at Vellanad, Taluk hospital Fort and Cheriyankeezhu and model district hospital Peroorkada and public health laboratory. However, those connected with the project claimed that the networking of the entire medical college, dental college, SAT was going on at the moment. The software which was developed for the purpose is being examined for security reasons before being uploaded on State Data Centre. This is to check hacking and tempering with the system.The pilot project at the Peroorkada hospital had faced problems like token numbers getting skipped and replicated.
All these errors are being removed to make it a foolproof system. The officials said claimed that online registration system in MCH would be put in place within three to four months. However, sources challenged their claims citing the slow pace of work. They say it might take at least six months to make the system up and running. The entire project is being implemented under the state government’s E Health project. It will be on the lines of AIIMS where on line registration website has a separate column for booking appointments. One needs to give Aadhaar number, choose hospital/department, select date of appointment and get confirmation SMS on the mobile or email. There is provision for cancelling the appointment and registering complaints as well. One can use the same registration number during revisits.
