In a bid to streamline the admission procedures of patients seeking berths in state healthcare facilities, the health department headed by the chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday launched online central referral system in five government medical colleges – SSKM Hospital, Medical College hospital (MCH) N R S Hospital, R G kar Hospital and Calcutta National Medical College hospital (CNMC).

The five medical colleges will instal display boards showing information related to the availability of beds, according to sources at Swasthya Bhawan, health department headquarters at Salt Lake.

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Sources also said that the board would be erected beside the emergency ward of each teaching hospital on Monday so that patients’ relatives can get an idea about vacancy of indoor beds there in the five medical colleges in the city.

Besides the prime demands like justice for the brutal rape and murder of postgraduate trainee (PGT) doctor at R G Kar Medical College Hospital and threat culture, the agitating medics under the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF) have also been urging the health department to streamline referral system of patients’ admissions to government healthcare facilities.

A medical superintendent-cum-vice-principal (MSVP) of the one of the five medical colleges requesting anonymity said, “A central referral system, monitoring patients’ admissions have been launched by Swasthya Bhawan. Five medical colleges in the city have been tagged with the system at the initial stage.”

“The central referral process, under the health management information system (HMIS) will monitor availability of beds in the five teaching hospitals,” the MSVP said.

A senior official at Swasthya Bhawan said, “For instance, doctors in a rural hospital will refer a patient to their counterpart in a concerned district hospital giving health condition details. The district hospital, after considering the health conditions of the patient and availability of beds, can ask the rural hospital to send him/her for admission. In the same way, the district hospital can also refer the patient to a medical college hospital for indoor admission if the adequate treatment facilities are not available in the secondary level healthcare system. The central referral system will track the admission procedure on the basis of vacancy of beds in the five medical colleges.”