The digital age has finally reached Calcutta Rescue which has begun a huge project to digitalise all its patient data.
For the past 40 years details of all patients have been meticulously stored on squares of cards, thousands of which are kept in rusty filing cabinets.
But they are at risk from fire, flood, and insects, and may also get lost. So now CR has invested in a computer system to store all patient records, and has managed to purchase laptops and tablets which staff can use to access them.
Work began in September to digitise the records at CR’s biggest clinic Tala Park, with a specialist company providing advice to the charity’s IT team and helping train staff.
Siddique who works at the clinic and also a part of the IT team said, “Allow me to explain the process of keeping patient’s records. When a patient visits us we have to register them. We add their names, ages, and symptoms to a card and pass them on to the doctors. Doctors will see this card, do a health check-up and prescribe medicine. The card then goes to the medicine table where medicines are prepared and then to the benefit distribution table. Now, this whole process will be done digitally.”
“This process is going to save space and a lot of time. The chance of losing any important patient information is also negligible. Treatment of patients is going to become easier with easy access to their records”, Siddique added.
After the system is fully operational at Tala Park, the same thing will happen at all the other clinics. The plan is to also digitise student data at the charity’s two education centres allowing staff to finally get a holistic view of all the services provided to its beneficiaries.
