It was disappointing to hear Health Minister Vishwajit Rane reject the all-India on-line registration system (ORS) for making appointments at government hospitals. Eighty-one hospitals, including All India Institute of Medical Sciences, a premier medical institution in the country have opted to use the ORS system for appointments. The list includes some of the top hospitals and it is disheartening to note that the State government is not interested in joining a system that would benefit patients, get rid of the long queues, put an end to the touts and reduce political influence in the Goa Medical College Hospital. Through ORS, patients can access 721 departments and on any given day over 1,500 appointments are made. Since the system was up and running two years ago, 57.44 lakh patients have used it. Why would the State government reject an initiative of the Narendra Modi government?
A proposal for joining ORS was made by the dean of the GMC during the tenure of the previous government. Unfortunately, the file did not move in the secretariat and permission was never granted. Patients in the State are worse of for it. When the new government was sworn in and Rane took over as health minister there was hope that he would give the clearance for joining ORS. Sadly, that was not to be. Instead of joining a system that has some of the top medical institutions attached to it, Rane suggested an indigenous system that would link all primary health centres and the GMC in one system. The question is why does Rane want to re-invent the wheel?
The cost of creating a new system would be enormous and Goa, despite a high growth rate and a robust economy, does not have the money to waste on creating systems that already exist. Secondly, there is no telling how long it would take for the government to unveil such a system. There probably is a fear that linking up with ORS would reduce the influence of local politicians. The good thing about e-systems is that they block interference from the outside. While this is good for the aam aadmi, it is not perceived as beneficial to politicians who would like to be seen doing favours.
If at all the ORS system was inefficient why would a premier medical institution like AIIMS join it? Why would Safdarjung Hospital endorse it? The ORS system has its advantages and the health minister and government must consider joining it. Surely the advise of the dean, who runs the GMC, should carry weight with the government. If GMC is to become better organized institution then greater autonomy is a must with the government only playing a supervisory role.
