RGGGH rolls out tags for patients’ attendants to ease crowding

RGGGH rolls out tags for patients’ attendants to ease crowding

1 of 2 Colour-coded: A staff strapping an identification tag on the wrist of a patient’s attendant at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai on Wednesday.

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Every patient admitted to the hospital to receive two attendant tags; in view of the rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar hospital, the Chief Secretary had instructed healthcare facilities to take measures to restrict number of attendants and visitors in a phased manner, say RGGGH authorities; restricting crowding would help in infection-control as well, says dean Theranirajan

The Hindu Bureau

CHENNAI  10.10.2024

The Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) has introduced a tag system for patient attendants to restrict crowding and ensure safety of healthcare professionals on the hospital premises. From now, every patient admitted to the hospital will receive two attendant tags.

In the light of the rape and murder of a post-graduate medical student at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, the Chief Secretary had instructed healthcare facilities to take measures to restrict the number of attendants / visitors in a phased manner to ensure the safety of healthcare professionals, according to RGGGH authorities.

In a step towards this, RGGGH had put up boards specifying visiting time (7 a.m. to 9 a.m., 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.) in many places, including the admission counter, emergency and outpatient department, a month ago. On Wednesday, the hospital rolled out a tag system to allow two attendants per patient, E. Theranirajan, dean of RGGGH, said.

“Every day, there are about 400 to 450 admissions at the hospital, and nearly 350 discharges. In many instances, each patient has about 10 to 15 visitors. This leads to crowding at the hospital. We have now introduced three colour tags — yellow for attendants of patients admitted to the Intensive Care Units, green for attendants of patients admitted to super speciality departments, such as vascular surgery and nephrology and blue tags for attendants of those admitted to the general wards, such as general medicine and general surgery,” he explained.

The tags would be given at the admission counter. As of now, the names of the patients are being written on the tag. “Each patient can have two attendants. This is because sometimes, one attendant may have to accompany them during investigations and they may require help in other circumstances,” he further said.

“Restricting crowding would help in infection-control as well. We will review the tag system after 15 days to see if any course corrections are essential,” he said.