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The All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) along with other central and state government-run hospitals is planning a reverse and forward referral policy for patients. Under this, patients coming to bigger institutes will be sent to smaller hospitals for treatment after being stabilised at the emergency department and will be forwarded to tertiary care and other bigger institutes when needed.
As per sources, a dashboard is also likely to be introduced which will provide real-time information about availability of beds in hospitals across the city.
The meeting conducted Saturday was called by AIIMS Director Dr M Srinivas and included medical directors and superintendents of various central and state government hospitals such as Safdarjung, Lok Nayak, RML, LHMC, SVBP, DDU, Indira Gandhi Hospital, ILBS, NDMC, IHBAS, Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital, Acharya Shree Bhikshu Hospital, Charak Palika. A discussion was held on the formal referral mechanism between government hospitals of Delhi for stable patients and patients facing inconvenience in having to move from one hospital to another in search of a bed.
According to AIIMS officials, these were the points discussed: need for real-time emergency bed availability of all hospitals; integrated unified dashboard of bed status; human network to communicate between hospitals before referrals; two-way referral of critical and non-critical cases; training programme to develop expertise.
“It was discussed that a system be formulated for reverse referrals and forward referrals of patients across Delhi,” said an official at the meeting.
Under the reverse referral system, after stabilising patients, they can be shifted to smaller hospitals and under forward referrals, patients can be shifted to a higher institute from a smaller hospital and mohalla clinic.
The policy
Under the reverse referral system, after stabilising patients, they can be shifted to smaller hospitals and under forward referrals, patients can be shifted to a higher institute from a smaller hospital and mohalla clinic.
“There are plans that nodal officers will also be appointed in every hospital to coordinate among hospitals for availability of beds,” said a senior official who attended the meeting.
AIIMS officials said the emergency department of the institute currently handles around 600 patients a day which has both critical and non-critical cases. AIIMS also receives referrals of critical patients from government hospitals which they are not able to handle either due to lack of super-speciality departments or due to constraints of beds.
According to official sources, a discussion also took place on how AIIMS can send its manpower and equipment to Delhi government hospitals such as Indira Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital till the time they procure their own staff and equipment. “There are many such hospitals in the outskirts and suburbs in Delhi where beds are lying vacant due to shortage of manpower and equipment and due to shortage of doctors; patients are then shifted to institutes like AIIMS, Safdarjung and Lok Nayak. During the meeting, it was discussed how such patients can be treated at those hospitals itself by sending manpower from bigger hospitals and institutes such as AIIMS,” said an official who attended the meeting.
“We can also have a pool of specialists and surgeons who can go to smaller hospitals for the same,” he added.
Praising the initiative, a senior official said it’s a step in the right direction: “We all were waiting for it as it will help a lot of patients. No one should lose his or her life due to shortage of beds or being denied admission.”
Meanwhile, AIIMS also launched the ‘AIIMS Main Hospital Casualty Dashboard’ on its website which in real time shows emergency beds status and the number of patients waiting for admissions on these beds.
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