AIIMS to upload details of unidentified patients on website

The AIIMS will upload on its website details of unidentified patients brought to its emergency ward to help their relatives trace them.

The prestigious institute has developed a programme by which it will soon start uploading the details of all such patients, involved in medico-legal cases, who are brought to the emergency and admitted under the 'list of unknown patients', on a real-time basis on its website.

"Often patients who have suffered grievous injuries or have met with an accident are brought in an unconscious state. They are not in a position to communicate their details nor do they have any documents on them which could help establish their identity.

"Majority of such patients are accident victims. Then there are destitute who are also brought for treatment. Again some are brought dead. The process of publishing their photos in newspapers and then somebody coming to claim them takes a long time. Uploading the details of such patients along with their photographs can help their kin trace them fast," said AIIMS Director Dr M C Mishra.

He said the data of such patients can be accessed under the tab of 'Important Links' by visiting AIIMS portal. Once there, one has to click on the sub-category of 'List of Unknown Patients' and access the details.

"We will begin uploading the pictures of the patients along with the date of registration (when they were brought) and the Unique Health Identification Number (UHID) that was assigned to each patient for future reference of the family members," said Mishra.

The AIIMS administration is making efforts to publicise the service.