SSKM to open computerised centralised ticket counters for OPDs

In a unique initiative, the SSKM Hospital in the city is going to open computerised centralised ticket counters for the Out Patient Departments (OPD) which will take off a lot of pressure.

Senior officials of the SSKM Hospital believe that once these computerised ticket counters are made operational, it will immensely benefit the people coming from various parts of the state.

Many patients who come to the hospital with serious problems were often asked to consult doctors at the OPD.

As a result, these serious patients have to stand in the long queues to get a ticket. Patients often have to wait for a few hours before getting their tickets. After getting their tickets from the counter, they have to wait for their turn to consult a doctor.

All the Out Patient Departments (OPD) sees huge footfall of patients every day. To reduce the long queue of patients at all the Out Patient Departments, the SSKM Hospital authorities decided to set up centralised ticket counters for the OPDs which will not only reduce the length of the queue but also help the patients to consult a doctor in lesser amount of time.

There will be as many as 10 counters at the centralised ticket counters.

It was learnt from the hospital sources that around 5,000-20,000 patients visit various OPDs on an average with most of them coming from the districts.

The patients often allege that they have to wait for nearly 5-6 hours to get their tickets. Thousands of patients from the far-off districts come to various departments of the SSKM, which is the only superspeciality hospital run by the state government. As a result of which there was always a tremendous pressure on all the Out Patient Departments.

A senior official of the hospital said that there is a sharp increase in the number of patients visiting various OPDs. As a result of this, the existing number of ticket counters is not enough to cope up with the situation.

As many as 10 new computerised counters will be made operational soon which will immensely help the patients and reduce the length of the queue.