JJ Hospital’ HMIS Hits Pause Button After Launching it 8 Months Back

The HMIS was introduced to enhance record-keeping, reduce human errors, and minimize patient wait times.

Eight months after its launch, JJ Hospital, Maharashtra's largest government-run medical college and hospital (GMCH), is facing significant challenges in maintaining its digital Healthcare Management Information System (HMIS).

Despite the system's aim to digitize patient medical records and improve hospital efficiency, a dispute with the contractor reportedly rendered it non-functional just eight months after its implementation.

The HMIS was introduced to enhance record-keeping, reduce human errors, and minimize patient wait times. Implemented in November, the system included computers and data operators to manage patient records digitally.

However, shortly after its launch, the contractor dispute made the system inoperative, forcing the hospital to revert to manual record-keeping and physical patient case papers.

Statewide Rollout Delays

The state government had assured that a new vendor would be appointed to address the issues, but this has yet to occur. All government medical colleges and hospitals are mandated to implement the HMIS.

Previously, the system was shut down in 2022 due to a legal dispute between state authorities and the contractor over unpaid dues amounting to crores.

It was partially resumed at JJ Hospital on a trial basis in November and then in December at other medical college hospitals in the state after the system's management was transferred to the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

The trial run last November occurred in six medical colleges and hospitals in Pune, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Dhule, Kolhapur, and the JJ Group of Hospitals.

Speaking anonymously, a senior official from the Medical Education Department mentioned that they are awaiting government approval to set up the necessary LAN infrastructure.

"We hope to roll out the HMIS statewide by the beginning of August," stated Rajiv Nivatkar, commissioner of Medical Education.

In July, the state government allocated INR 269.5 Cr for implementing the HMIS in hospitals. The task has now been reassigned to the NIC, a government unit rather than a private company.

Manual System Inefficiencies

Currently, patients visiting JJ Hospital must collect documents from the OPD, where doctors record health issues and prescriptions on paper. Without the HMIS, patient registration takes 10 to 12 minutes, and the loss of case papers results in a laborious manual process.

In contrast, the HMIS allows for online patient registration, assigns a unique identity number to each patient, and streamlines treatment by providing quick access to comprehensive patient details, including blood reports, X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans.

A recent study by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) highlighted the drawbacks of manual record-keeping at Sion and KEM hospitals. These include prolonged waiting times, surgery cancellations, and laboratory results inaccuracies due to lab technicians' illegible handwritten sample markings.