According to a senior official, “Some officials in the government have started studying this website and plan to recommend its use to the health department.”
The government version of the software, called the Hospital Information Management System (HIMS) is meant for computerising hospital functions of all major government hospitals in Delhi. The installation of HIMS, with all related infrastructure, in the 23 existing hospitals and six upcoming hospitals is expected to cost around Rs 130 crore.
Information regarding the free software came to light around a month ago when a software engineer working with the Infosys-backed eGovernment Foundation casually pointed out the website to some senior bureaucrats.
Talking to Newsline on condition of anonymity, the engineer said: “I’m surprised that people working on the project did not know about the website. It is easily available and quite popular. The huge waste of time and money could have been avoided.” HIMS project in-charge Dr Vijay Rai, however, said he is not aware about the website. “The HIMS software is the best that we have.”
“We desperately need a software for computerisation. In LNJP alone, 20 lakh files of patient medical records are lying dumped in a room,” he said.
Principal Secretary (Health) Vivek Rae said: “Some private hospitals are using other software but I have heard they are not working well.” The ready-to-use free software, called the Hospital Information System (HIS), was introduced in 2002 and is internationally available for downloading in seven languages, including English. The software also performs all functions of the government software being developed and requires just five minutes to download, say experts. The HIS is already in use in countries like Italy, Malaysia, Brazil Germany, Costa Rica and France.
The HIMS is being developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, a government PSU.
“The concept started in 2000 with the Delhi Government IT policy whereby we wanted to computerise the health services,” said Rai.
According to eGovernment Foundation engineers, officials in the NDMC have expressed interest in the free software.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Tenzing Lamsang
Quelle/Source: Delhi Newsline, 02.09.2007
