Nishant calls for stronger digital monitoring in state’s govt hospitals

Patna: Health minister Nishant Kumar, who reviewed the functioning of the department’s Command and Control Centre on Thursday, said online monitoring of govt hospitals through the Bihar Health Application Visionary Yojana (Bhavya) should be made more effective to ensure timely and improved healthcare services for patients.

During the detailed review meeting, Nishant asked officials concerned to integrate all govt hospitals in Bihar with the digital health scheme to strengthen coordination and enable real-time monitoring of hospital services across the state.

Emphasising patient convenience, the minister asked hospitals to increase the number of registration counters to reduce long queues and inconvenience faced by patients. He also stressed that patients arriving at emergency wards must receive proper treatment after necessary investigations and tests and should not be referred elsewhere without adequate medical attention.

Nishant further directed officials to ensure proper arrangements for patients being transported in ambulances, immediate repair of faulty medical equipment and uninterrupted availability of medicines in hospitals. He said medicines and other essential resources should be regularly monitored through the Command and Control Centre so that shortages and operational problems could be addressed without delay.

Focusing on accountability and public service delivery, the minister asked officials to strengthen the grievance cell and ensure immediate disposal of complaints received from the public. He also instructed authorities to improve doctors’ duty rosters and ensure healthcare workers function with greater sensitivity to minimise patient hardship.

In a move aimed at increasing transparency, Nishant asked officials to make information related to vacant hospital beds available on digital platforms so that patients and their families can access accurate and timely information. He said this would also help curb the role of middlemen in hospitals.

The minister also ordered strict monitoring of fire safety arrangements in hospitals and directed that any fire-related incident be immediately reported through the alert system. Hospitals were instructed to display essential information through digital media and posters, install proper signage and clearly communicate available facilities to patients and attendants.

Officials informed the minister that district hospitals were currently being monitored live through the Command and Control Center using surveillance cameras. Real-time information regarding bed occupancy and medicine availability was also being received regularly from hospitals across the state.

The meeting was attended by special secretary Tshering Y Bhutia, special secretary Himanshu Sharma, Bihar State AIDS Control Society project director Sumit Kumar, State Health Society Bihar additional executive director Gaurav Kumar and other senior officials.