Delay in paperless plan: AIIMS Delhi likely to make services online by January 26

New Delhi: The premier health institute, the All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, is still struggling to restore all of its online services following a cyber attack and is expected to start the online facilities by January 26. 

Although the institute was delayed in offering its online services because of the cyber attack, basic services are now partially available online. However, most online services are unable to function properly due to interrupted internet service at the institute.

The institute has tried to restore all its services to go paperless by January 1, as agreed earlier, but failed and is now hoping to start by January 26.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported about the cyber attack on the servers of the premier institute and how the hospital management had been engaged in formulating a policy for cyber security with guidance from investigating agencies.

Also read- Ransomware Cyber Attack On AIIMS Server, Delhi Police Files FIR

The matter was being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the India Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN), the Delhi Police, the Intelligence Bureau, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

In answer to the question of whether the online services be functional in time, a senior official informed The Indian Express, “The internet facility has still not been restored completely. It is in the hands of the NIC and the cyber attack has delayed the process. Most likely the service will resume from January 26”.

On October 17 last year, the AIIMS Delhi Director Dr M Srinivas issued an office memorandum to all the Heads of the department, Chief of Centres and IT/Telemedicine/OPD Nodal officers of all departments on the implementation of all modules of e-Hospital.

"A demonstration of e-Hospital modules was done on 17 October 2022 by the National informatics Centre (NIC) team for all the Heads of the Departments/ Chief of Centres and IT/ Telemedicine/OPD Nodal officers of all departments. The NIC team presented the list of modules functional at AIIMS and demonstrated the OT module, clinical module and telemedicine module," the office of the memorandum issued by the director of AIIMS Delhi read.

The implementation includes, "An oversight monitoring committee and a working committee will be constituted for implementation of all modules of e-Hospital. A weekly progress report in a standardised format with per cent work done will be submitted by the NIC Team."

However, after the hack, several facilities have still not resumed and many facilities are functioning in hybrid mode, an official said.

Service like online outpatient department (OPD) registrations of new patients visiting the institute has resumed, while the registration for the wards and path labs is expected to begin soon in phases.

However, some officials at the institute are sceptical about the system going paperless by January 26 as they stated that the system will take more months to get back to normal and function smoothly.

Also read- Online Registration Of OPD Patients Resumes At Delhi AIIMS, Two Weeks After Cyber Attack