Now, receive scan reports by email from 3 TN hosps
Project To Be Expanded To Other Dists Soon: Official
Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com
Chennai: Patients visiting at least three government hospitals in the state, including the Institute of Child Health (ICH) in Egmore, will now receive an alert on their phones when scan reports are ready along with a copy of the report sent to their email accounts.
In an attempt to reduce waiting time for patients, referrals to bigger hospitals and fatalities, the state health department has rolled out teleradiology services on a pilot basis from the tertiary care hospital along with two district hospitals headquartered at Pollachi and Kallakuruchi. “The aim is to help doctors give reports as early as possible. We will soon be expanding the project to other districts,” said Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation managing director P Umanath.
Radiologists will be given laptops with an integrated SIM and 4G data. Duty doctors or technicians will flag emergencies and radiologists from across the state will be able to access the scans on the cloud for interpretation. If doctors attached to scan centres are not available, doctors from other centres interpreting reports will be paid a consultation fee either through the insurance or from the state’s kitty. Once all urgent scan reports are cleared, elective scans will be cleared by doctors within 24 hours.
An analysis by the health department showed the problem wasn’t a shortage of radiologists, but poor distribution. With more than 50 scan centres, the state on an average does more than 2,500 scans a day. However, the number of scans done post 3pm, when duty hours for government doctors end, falls between 0% and 30%. For instance, the performance in Pollachi district hospital had a large scope for improvement, the health department felt. “We are planning to add more machines and upgrade MRIs, CTs and other high-end scans this year but we won’t be employing more radiologists,” said Umanath.
Certain parts of the state, especially cities like Chennai and Coimbatore, have lots of doctors but many rural areas experience a shortage, particularly of specialists. Officials say that it may not be easy for them to alter this distribution due to various factors including the comforts of living in cities. The government also retains specialists in cities, where there are medical college hospitals, so they can get permission from the Medical Council of India for PG seats.
Currently, in many hospitals including ICH, doctors see images of urgent scans on their phones when duty doctors alert them. “But these lines are not secure and images aren’t always clear. On many occasions, we may want duty doctors to see some things and tell us,” said ICH chief radiologist Dr Natarajan. The hospital has five radiologists working from 8am to 1.30pm. The radiologists, on an average, see up to 40 CT scans and 15 MRIs.
The corporation, which is in charge of purchase and maintenance of medical equipment for state hospitals, has given the tender for setting up teleradiology services in all government hospitals to Bengaluru-based Mediff. The corporation is hoping that its low-cost diagnostic services will also benefit patients at private hospitals. The government charges ₹500 for an MRI and ₹3,000 for a CT scan.
AN END TO LONG QUEUES: Radiologists at three government hospitals, including the Institute of Child Health, will be given laptops with an integrated SIM and 4G data
Project To Be Expanded To Other Dists Soon: Official
Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com
Chennai: Patients visiting at least three government hospitals in the state, including the Institute of Child Health (ICH) in Egmore, will now receive an alert on their phones when scan reports are ready along with a copy of the report sent to their email accounts.
In an attempt to reduce waiting time for patients, referrals to bigger hospitals and fatalities, the state health department has rolled out teleradiology services on a pilot basis from the tertiary care hospital along with two district hospitals headquartered at Pollachi and Kallakuruchi. “The aim is to help doctors give reports as early as possible. We will soon be expanding the project to other districts,” said Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation managing director P Umanath.
Radiologists will be given laptops with an integrated SIM and 4G data. Duty doctors or technicians will flag emergencies and radiologists from across the state will be able to access the scans on the cloud for interpretation. If doctors attached to scan centres are not available, doctors from other centres interpreting reports will be paid a consultation fee either through the insurance or from the state’s kitty. Once all urgent scan reports are cleared, elective scans will be cleared by doctors within 24 hours.
An analysis by the health department showed the problem wasn’t a shortage of radiologists, but poor distribution. With more than 50 scan centres, the state on an average does more than 2,500 scans a day. However, the number of scans done post 3pm, when duty hours for government doctors end, falls between 0% and 30%. For instance, the performance in Pollachi district hospital had a large scope for improvement, the health department felt. “We are planning to add more machines and upgrade MRIs, CTs and other high-end scans this year but we won’t be employing more radiologists,” said Umanath.
Certain parts of the state, especially cities like Chennai and Coimbatore, have lots of doctors but many rural areas experience a shortage, particularly of specialists. Officials say that it may not be easy for them to alter this distribution due to various factors including the comforts of living in cities. The government also retains specialists in cities, where there are medical college hospitals, so they can get permission from the Medical Council of India for PG seats.
Currently, in many hospitals including ICH, doctors see images of urgent scans on their phones when duty doctors alert them. “But these lines are not secure and images aren’t always clear. On many occasions, we may want duty doctors to see some things and tell us,” said ICH chief radiologist Dr Natarajan. The hospital has five radiologists working from 8am to 1.30pm. The radiologists, on an average, see up to 40 CT scans and 15 MRIs.
The corporation, which is in charge of purchase and maintenance of medical equipment for state hospitals, has given the tender for setting up teleradiology services in all government hospitals to Bengaluru-based Mediff. The corporation is hoping that its low-cost diagnostic services will also benefit patients at private hospitals. The government charges ₹500 for an MRI and ₹3,000 for a CT scan.
AN END TO LONG QUEUES: Radiologists at three government hospitals, including the Institute of Child Health, will be given laptops with an integrated SIM and 4G data
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