West Bengal: E-prescription facility now at all government hospitals

Kolkata: With an aim to improve the quality of patient care, the West Bengal health department has announced that the e-prescription initiative will start today at all state-run medical colleges and government hospitals.

To replace the traditional hand-written method of prescribing medicines, the department has ordered government hospitals and medical colleges to adopt the digitalized method from today.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that the West Bengal health department's decision to introduce E- prescriptions in all the state-run health utilities in the state this year is expected to bring about a permanent solution to the teething problem of preserving patient data and their case histories.

Also read- West Bengal: E-Prescriptions In Primary Health Centres To Digitise Patient Data

State health department sources said that the state-run health centres where the E-prescription will be introduced this year will include all state-run medical colleges & hospitals, district hospitals and primary health centers.

Besides addressing the issue of preserving the patient- data and their case histories, he added, the new system of E-prescription will also address the issue of patients and their family members, who often complain that hand-written prescriptions are often so illegible that they are not able to understand anything.

Electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) is an important part of the nation's push to enhance the safety and quality of the prescribing process. E-prescribing allows providers in the ambulatory care setting to send prescriptions electronically to the pharmacy and can be a stand-alone system or part of an integrated electronic health record system.

Talking about this to TOI, a health official said, "All government health facilities have been told to install the necessary IT system. At least 50% of the wards of the hospitals are going to be covered under the e-prescription model."

Also Read: Raiganj Government Medical College and Hospital launches e-prescription facility for OPD patients