Patient care in government-run hospitals is all set to be digitised in Odisha's Ganjam district soon, a senior official said.

The district administration has decided to introduce paperless patient care under "Mo Hospital" (my hospital) scheme wherein prescriptions and case histories will be digitalised, the official said. The proposed system, billed as the first of its kind in the state, is likely to be rolled out on a pilot basis in around a month, he said. "From registration to getting free medicine from the medicine counter - all will be done digitally under the proposed Mo Hospital initiative and electronic prescription system," said the Ganjam District Collector.

Patients will not stand in a queue in front of the doctor's chamber or run from one counter to another to get free medicines under Niramaya, a government scheme, he said. "We are planning to introduce this system in one of the urban primary health centres in Berhampur, before rolling out to other hospitals" said the collector. Chief district medical officer (CDMO) of Ganjam, Bijay Kumar Panigrahy said the process has already started for introduction of the system. It will take about a month to introduce the system on a pilot basis, he said.

According to the proposed system, a patient will get a number after registration of his name and address in the counter of the hospital. The number will automatically be displayed in the department and doctor's chamber. A digital board installed near the doctor's chamber will also display the waiting number of patients. The patient will have to sit in the waiting room till his/ her number comes, officials said. The doctor will write the prescription in a digital mode without using any pen and paper. The doctor will only mark the medicines for the patients from the list of drugs available in the scheme. The patients will get the medicine from Niramaya counter quoting his registration or unique number, they said.

Tabs will be provided to the doctors from the funds of the hospital, the collector said. Patients will not face any problem or run from one counter to another with paper prescription to get medicine. It will also help the doctors to store the patients' history, said the collector. Moreover, all the medicines available in Niramaya store would have a barcode. "It will reflect the quantities of distribution of medicine and real-time demand of Niramaya medicine,", the collector said. After observing the working of the proposed system, it will be integrated with Nidan, the free pathological test scheme of the government, he added.