Online OPD booking proving a boon for patients at SSKM

Kolkata: A large number of patients visiting SSKM Hospital have already started reaping the benefits of online outpatient department (OPD) booking system introduced by the state Health department, as they no longer have to stand in long queues.

According to the sources in the hospital, the number of patients standing in queues for collecting tickets at various OPDs has considerably gone down ever since the new system was introduced. The new system has been able to provide hassle-free treatment to the patients. A senior doctor of a department in the hospital on Wednesday said that earlier, some of the doctors used to face problems while parking their vehicles due to the long queues outside the OPDs. But now, the length of the queues has been cut short due to the implementation of online booking.

According to sources, earlier as many as 12,000 patients used to visit various OPDs on an average at SSKM but number has recently gone down, as many patients and their family members have started using the online booking system.

Rathin Tarafdar, a resident of Santoshpur area in the Southern fringes of the city visited the hospital on Wednesday after booking a ticket online. He said: "The online OPD booking system is an extremely beneficial platform for the patients coming to the hospital from far-flung areas across the state. Previously, the patients had to come to the hospital early in the morning."

It may be mentioned that a patient has to pay a token amount of Rs 2 at various OPD counters in the hospital, for obtaining a ticket. But in case of online booking, the patients don't have to pay any money. The system has been introduced at the hospital on an experimental basis, while other medical colleges would soon replicate the model, a Health department official said.

The patients need to visit the Health department's website www.wbhealth.gov.in, where they will get an icon that reads 'e-governance' on the left column of the page. The patients have to click the button, which will take them to another page that says 'OPD ticket booking'.