India’s first AIIMS with queue-less, QR-based admission system for patients
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
JAMMU: Amid a host of distinctions, the newly established AIIMS Jammu at Vijaypur is India’s first and till date the only super specialty hospital in the government sector with the completely seamless system for admission of the patients.
“There will be absolutely no queues of patients and their attendants. We have developed and introduced an internet and GPS-linked online system that will, on request, generate a particular QR (Quick Response Code) and guide you to all concerned windows, OPD chambers, Operations Theatres, laboratories and other facilities. Your number will be automatically displayed on the electronic monitors and you will reach the concerned doctor or technician precisely at your turn”, Dr Neelam Kotwal, Assistant Professor Hospital Administration at AIIMS Jammu said.
Dr Kotwal along with his colleague Dr Aattiqa demonstrated how the QR code would lead a patient or an attendant to wherever he is required to reach. “Once generated on your smartphone, it will guide you in the required directions horizontally and vertically. In addition to that. Specific colour bars have been laid like the ones you experience at a Metro train station. It’s a totally seamless and queue-less system”, Dr Kotwal asserted.
Executive Director and CEO AIIMS Jammu, Dr Shakti Kumar Gupta, said in his exclusive conversation with this journalist that he has introduced all solutions after having witnessed different problems during his over 30-year-tenure in the Hospital Administration Department of AIIMS New Delhi.
“In Delhi and other medical institutes, there’s still a huge scramble. Patients and attendants fall in queues at 4:00 a.m to get a turn for OPD at 10:00 a.m. There’s no such system at AIIMS Jammu. You can book your slot right from your home and reach a point at your time”, Dr Gupta said.
“Some 1,000 to 1,200 patients visit AIIMS Jammu every day. Once the hospital will become 100% functional with all services, we are expecting 2,500 to 3,000 patients daily. Most of them will be coming from Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and the UT of Ladakh besides the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. We have put in place a very good referral system. Some of the patients will come directly through our App. Some will come through our Ayush triage”, Dr Gupta said.
As regards the human resource and recruitment of faculty, Dr Gupta said that the process of filling up the sanctioned strength of 183 positions was still in progress.
“Till date, we have selected and appointed 112 faculty members. Around 70 positions are still vacant. In response to our first notification for 183 posts, we received 1,400 applications. Of the applicants, 700 were shortlisted for interviews. Out of them all, we picked only 74 candidates who were the most meritorious and the most qualified and competent”, Dr Gupta said.
“It’s a totally clean and transparent system here. We immediately display the marks on our monitors, announce the results and issue the appointment letters. We haven’t received a single complaint till date”, Dr Gupta said. Through this medium, Dr Gupta issued an appeal to all the J&K domicile doctors working abroad and invited them for partnership in capacity building, training and recruitments. He said that AIIMS Jammu was immediately in need of some very qualified and experienced oncologists.
“I have noticed that 250 of our doctors are currently settled or working in different countries overseas. I request them all to return and help us make AIIMS Jammu a unique centre of excellence. For those who can’t return for good, we offer reimbursement of their air tickets. We will provide them the best boarding and lodging if they extend their helping hand to us”, Dr Gupta said.
Currently, 336 students of 5 different batches are pursuing MBBS at AIIMS Jammu. While 50 of them have been picked up for the first batch in 2020, 62 each have been admitted in 2021, 2022 and 2023. For the 2024 batch, 100 students have been given admission.
Simultaneously, AIIMS Jammu has also started its own College of Nursing. Currently 60 students are taking training in B Sc Nursing. “We are also starting PG in Nursing in the next 6 months. We will be taking 45 students for PG. Thereafter, we will be launching our Ph D programmes in Nursing in coordination and mentorship of AIIMS New Delhi”, Dr Gupta said.
“We have already started MCh in Paediatric Surgery. Soon we are going to start MCh and D.M programmes in different super specialties”, Dr Gupta added. “We have 150 PG seats”.
