New Delhi: Aiming to provide access to premium healthcare services to everyone, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has introduced a feature for patients undergoing treatment at the hospital to book appointments through its newly-introduced system, which will be implemented in the main hospital from April 2.
Under the new system, 50 per cent of the patients' slot will be filled on the basis of daily appointments, while the remaining slots would be reserved for patients who reach the hospital directly without an appointment.
The patients will now seek appointment from the concern department related to their disorder, instead of getting an appointment with a particular doctor.
The AIIMS administration said, "The appointment system has been revised to facilitate the patients. Its main purpose is to ensure the treatment of every patient with or without an appointment."
In 2014, the administration of the premiere healthcare institution launched the appointment system, under which patients could avail the opportunity to get appointments online, telephonically and/or at hospital counters.
Shortly after this facility initiated, the hospital administration had fixed the number of patients for treatment every day and they were treated only on the basis of the appointment, said an official at AIIMS.
However, patients who reached the hospital for treatment without an appointment could not get the opportunity to hold an OPD card at the patients registration counter (PRC) centre.
With the new revised facility, this will now change, the official added.
With this new system, 50 per cent of the patient slots can be booked through an appointment, almost 30 days in advance, either online or telephone.
If an appointment is not available, the patient would have to try again later to book a different slot, or reach the hospital directly for treatment directly, the official stated
The official further said that 30 per cent of the slots have been reserved for patients who reach the hospital directly.
However, for some reason, many patients are often transferred from one department to others. For such patients, a slot of OPD registration of 20 per cent has been earmarked.
Patients who are undergoing treatment at the hospital will not need to wait in the PRC to get the Out Patient Department (OPD) card anymore.
These patients can avail the facility directly at OPD block (Rajkumari Amrit Kaur OPD block, Pediatrics and Medicine OPD) on fixed dates, where a separate counter has been opened, the AIIMS official added.
It has often been observed that patients reach the hospital with an appointment, but the concern doctor(s) is/are not available to address the patient. Therefore, the appointments will now be made on the basis of the department and not the doctor.