Punjab Health Secretary Jehanzeb Khan on Wednesday directed the administrations of public sector hospitals to ensure optimum use of information technology (IT) for efficient hospital management and patient care.
The computerised hospital management system of Services Hospital Lahore (SHL) may be adopted as a model, said the secretary during a visit to the Services Hospital. While on a round of different wards including the emergency department, Khan was informed that the entire system, starting from the entry receipt to the discharge slip, was computerized. It could be checked any time which doctor examined a patient and what medicine was prescribed. SHL Medical Superintendent Dr Muhammad Javed informed the secretary that all medicines were issued from the pharmacy with the thumb impression of the doctor concerned. Additional Health Secretary Daud Muhammad Khan Bareach, SIMS Principal Professor Dr Faisal Masood and Health Deputy Secretary (Admn) Saleha Saeed were also present during the visit. Dr Javed said full record of each patient visiting the hospital was available on the system and all wards including accidental and emergency department had been interlinked. A thumb scanning system had also been introduced for marking attendance of the hospital employees, he added. Professor Faisal Masood designed the system. The health secretary appreciated Masood and his team for designing the hospital management system to improve discipline and ensure quality healthcare to the patients. Jehanzeb said all public sector hospitals should benefit from the IT for improving the system and enhancing capacity. He hoped that the SHL computerised system would serve as an example for other hospitals to follow.
