LAHORE: The Sir Ganga Ram Hospital has become the third teaching hospital of Lahore having an online system of registration of patients in its emergency department.

“Manual database method of all the teaching hospitals will be replaced with online information technology system in phases,” said Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department Secretary Najam Ahmed Shah on Saturday.

After inspecting the online registration system at the hospital, Mr Shah told the newsmen the system would help prepare authentic and complete data of the patients, nature of their diseases, information regarding availability and provision of medicines and other facilities to the patients. He added that the project of online data entry system in the emergency departments of teaching hospitals of Lahore started on Nov 11 and it had been successfully operating in the emergency departments of Children’s and Mayo hospitals.

Mr Shah said the online system would be extended to inpatient and outpatient departments and pharmacies of the teaching hospitals.

After introduction of the system, all information regarding patients and hospitals’ facilities would be available on the dashboard.

“Since Nov 11 to date, some 77,000 patients visited the emergency departments of the Children’s and Mayo hospitals, according to the online data,” Mr Shah said and added that the online database would help enhance the capacity and performance of the hospitals, future planning and to preparation of strategy to meet the challenges.

Earlier, Fatima Jinnah Medical University Vice Chancellor Prof Khalid Masood Gondal briefed the secretary on the role of the skill laboratory in the training of doctors. He said training on dummy bodies to the doctors in the skill lab regarding different procedures in the emergency department enabled them to treat the patients without facing any difficulty.

Later, the secretary inspected operating theatres, medicines and surgical wards. He also inquired after the patients and asked them about the medical facilities, especially provision of free medicines.

The secretary directed Medical Superintendent Dr Fayyaz Butt to replace the old furniture with comfortable chairs for the staff, saying that the required funds would be provided for the purpose.

UPLIFT PLANS: The Departmental Developmental Schemes Committee (DDSC) of the Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education (SHME) Department reviewed various development schemes and purchase of equipment for teaching hospitals.

Presided over by SHME Department Secretary Najam Ahmed Shah, the committee reviewed and approved different schemes, including further improvement of existing medical equipment of accident and emergency departments of Lahore General Hospital, performance of management system of the department, procurement of equipment for emergency radiology department of Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Rahim Yar Khan, upgrade of neurosurgery department of Bahawalpur Victoria Hospital, Bahawalapur, and rehabilitation of various departments of DHQ Hospital Faisalabad.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2017