NEW DELHI: The Centre has asked AIIMS to help public hospitals across the country replicate the premier medical institute's Transformation Project for digitising services.

The Union Health Ministry has mandated AIIMS to help the states and Union territories replicate the initiative which comprises the institute's digital project and OPD Transformation, AIIMS Deputy Director (Administration) V Srinivas said.

A Health Care Transformation Cell has been set up under the chairmanship of the AIIMS Director, for this purpose, he said.

The government has also constituted a panel under the chairmanship of the Union Health Minister to review development and progress in replication of AIIMS Transformation project in various states and UTs.

The Prime Minister in his Independence Day address to the nation last year recommended the Digital AIIMS Project for pan-India replication.

"The transformation of AIIMS to a patient-friendly hospital under the Digital India initiative can be compared to saving the Titanic. The project has benefitted 42 lakh patients till date since its inception in December 2015.

"AIIMS has been mandated by the government to conduct on-board workshops for the project's replication across all 12 central government hospitals and is helping several state governments to replicate the project in its major hospitals," Srinivas told PTI.

Kerala has approached us in replicating this initiative, he said.

The first step in Digital AIIMS project was the creation of an effective linkage between the institute, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeiTY).

To go digital, AIIMS created specialised cadres who enabled rapid adoption of the new technology. The Nursing Informatics Specialists provided the linkage between the clinical departments and OPD appointments.

Nurses with an aptitude for technology were deployed to coordinate among the departments, OPD, wards and software professionals handling it.

"The Patient Care Coordinators touched every patient entering the OPD with empathy. They were deployed to assist with the E-Kiosks to help patients in getting appointments," Srinivas explained.

The components of the AIIMS OPD Transformation include - Patient Registration Centre with 50 counters having e-Hospital software, 200 e-Kiosks for registration and all hospital facilities equipped with net banking.

"The approach has resulted in transparent and faster registration, screening at entry point, introduction of patient care coordinators in registration and consultation areas and the unique 'exit OPD counters' for all follow-up patients.

"Today, the AIIMS OPD Transformation project has become a role model for transforming OPD services at all major central and state government hospitals," Srinivas said.