BMC APP TO HELP PATIENTS SCHEDULE DOC APPOINTMENTS

Aiming to reduce crowding at civic hospitals, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to develop a mobile application, which will help patients to schedule their doctor appointments. Civic officials plan to meet the information technology department later this week, to discuss the issue. The four civic hospitals witness a footfall of more than 15,000 patients daily, which leads to chaos at hospital and it is nearimpossible for doctors to attend to every patient who comes to the outpatient department.

Additional Municipal Commissioner (AMC), Health, Suresh Kakani, said working on this application will begin after this meeting. “We plan to come up with a patient-friendly application, which will make it easy for them to obtain a doctor's appointment. The application will be developed within three months,” he said.

The application will provide all the basic details of the hospitals, doctors, counsellors and other facilities. “This will reduce the workload on doctors and the travel time of patients, as they will know in advance when the doctor is available and will have a scheduled appointment. Patients can also book their MRI and CTI scan appointments beforehand,” said a senior health official.

Health activists have mixed feelings about this move. On the one hand, they are happy because it will benefit thousands of patients whose time is wasted waiting for their turn. However, "If such an application sees the light of the day, both patients and doctors will benefit,” said an activist.