Bengal sets up system to facilitate referral of patients

KOLKATA: The state Health department has set up a system to facilitate referral of patients from primary health care to secondary or tertiary care to ensure availability of necessary services.

A recent order issued by the state Health department said: “To facilitate this, an upward referral linkage system has already been established, tagging all the lower tier facilities with nearby higher tier government health facilities to provide further management or to ensure availability of necessary services to the patients.”

The order issued by the Director of Health Services said that OPD services are being provided in all urban areas. Primary health care like free medical advice at OPD, diagnostic tests and free medicines are also being offered from these facilities.

“With the focus on continuity of care, for further or better management or for specialist opinion or IPD facilities to secondary or tertiary government health institutions,” reads the order.

The state Health department has already directed the Chief Medical Officer of health in the districts to ensure unnecessary referrals are not made by the district’s hospitals which create a burden on the city’s medical colleges. Some of the sub-divisional level or district level hospitals often tend to transfer patients when they have adequate infrastructure to handle the patients.