All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Deoghar decided to double the number of OPD patients it would attend to everyday in the wake of huge demand and also rolled out online registration facilities from Friday to enable people to schedule consultations.
AIIMS- Deoghar director Saurabh Varshney said, "Earlier, we were only catering to 200 people at the OPD per day. But, people from far off places used to stand in queue since morning to register on a first-come first-serve basis. Many had to return disappointed. Hence, in order to cater to more people, we have decided to double visiting patients from today Friday.”
Varshney told reporters that AIIMS-Deoghar had also operationalised an online appointment system through which 100 people could book appointment slots. “The online registration window is made available at our website www.aiimsdeoghar.edu.in. We have included a tab of online registration on the home page of our official website which has all the details,” he said.
For better management of patients, the director said that among the 400 to be attended to at the OPD, 100 would be follow-up patients. “Of the 300, only 100 online slot bookings will be done per day and the rest will be through counter registration. It is because everyone may not have access to devices to book online services. Those booking online appointments will be attended to only between 8.30am and 9.30 am,” he said.
Union minister for health and family welfare Mansukh Mandaviya inaugurated the OPD facilities at the new Ayush building at Deoghar-AIIMS on August 24. He also launched a night shelter facility.
OPD services are available everyday except Sundays. One has to pay Rs 30 for registration. About 50 doctors are on duty across various departments to run the OPDs.
Deoghar-AIIMS was approved by the Union government in its 2017-18 budget. The state government earmarked around 236.92 acre of land in Deoghar’s Devipur area for the project, and in May 2018, the Union cabinet approved funds to the tune of about Rs 1,000 crore.
It began inducting MBBS students since 2019, admitting 50 students in the first batch. The number of students was increased to 62 last year. This year’s admissions are still to get over. The civil work of the hospital and academic buildings is in progress at the moment.
