CONRAD DIAS
Ranchi, Aug 27: The Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) has lately been in controversy for multiple reasons such as doctors practising in their private clinics, patients purchasing essential medicines from outside pharmacies, lack of basic things in the store, etc. Moreover, RIMS had to return Rs 230 crore to the treasury because it could not spend it within the timeline.
The Additional Director (Administration)/ (ADA) of RIMS Chandan Kumar said that the current work culture of RIMS can change only with the use of technology. He stated that RIMS is in the process of implementing an e-office to keep a track of important files.
“Inability to track files in RIMS is the most severe problem. Nobody knows where a particular file of purchase or payment or departmental action is pending because there has never been a culture of maintaining File-Dispatch-Register in RIMS. So days pass and you will still not find the file you are looking for. E-office has already begun and currently, we are in the process of scanning all existing files. After that, all file movement can be tracked with a single click,” Kumar said in a statement.
Apart from E-office, RIMS is also in the process to implement an E-store to make the management and availability of medicines much easier.
“Medicine management is a big headache. Patients say they purchase most of the medicines from outside. Some nurses say they are receiving medicines regularly from the RIMS store, some say they are not. The store says all medicines demanded are supplied immediately. So where is our medicine going? RIMS is spending a large amount on medicine and chemicals. I think it is around 50 crore Rs or more. Maybe we need to spend more. But for now, we need to track the status of these thousands of medicines and chemicals on a real-time basis,” Kumar added.
He informed in the statement that E-Store is beginning on Monday, August 29. All infrastructure is in place and it should also flag in advance if a particular medicine is going to be in shortage in the near future so that the administration can plan its purchase immediately.
As attendance of doctors has been a constant problem in RIMS, the administration has also ordered biometric machines in large numbers for regular attendance.
“I ordered salary based on biometric, but people started complaining that biometric is not functional or insufficient quantity. So, I ordered the purchase of more biometric units immediately. Where is its file, I have no way of knowing for sure. Hopefully, the e-office will resolve this file tracking permanently,” Kumar stated.
