The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to conduct a surprise audit of 38 Delhi government hospitals to ascertain whether the NextGen e-Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) is being effectively implemented.
A bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora passed the order.The NextGen e-HMIS portal created by National Informatics Centre (NIC) intends to provide information regarding availability of ICU beds and other emergency treatment services in hospitals.
Its objective is digitisation of healthcare services for quick and effective treatment and improved diagnosis.“We are making it clear to all the hospitals that NIC team would now be doing a surprise (supplies) audit of all the hospitals in Delhi, 38 hospitals, to see whether NextGen [e-HMIS] has been implemented and wherever there is reference of ICU if they are taking care of it properly,” the Court stated.
The Court also directed the Delhi government to give live demonstration of the NextGen e-HMIS platform software and ‘ICU Beds Saarthi’. The directions were passed in a suo moto case of the Court in which matters related to Delhi hospitals and healthcare are routinely monitored.
The amicus curiae today informed the court that one Qamar Jahan was turned away from Lok Nayak Hospital due to unavailability of an ICU bed. However, the patient’s grand-daughter told the Court that the e-HMIS website showed availability of two ICU beds.
“This is an unfortunate situation. This shows that despite the ICU beds being available, the patient was not provided the same,” the Court observed.The Court was also informed that despite repeated phone calls on the numbers provided on the website, there was no positive response.
“It is unclear how the HMIS systems is being used by the hospitals. It is also unclear as to why there is no uniformity in the implementation of HMIS. Clearly there is disparity in the manner in which HMIS is being implemented across the Delhi government hospitals.”The Court observed that there needs to be consistency and uniformity in using e-HMIS. It should be ensured that the persons manning the telephone lines and present at the hospital do not turn away patients.
Follow us
