Stop unnecessary referrals, district hospitals must treat more patients locally, says Telangana health minister

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription

Telangana Health Minister C. Damodar Raja Narasimha along with senior officials at a review meeting to assess the functioning of government hospitals under the Directorate of Secondary Healthcare on Saturday (August 22). | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Telangana Health Minister C. Damodar Raja Narasimha warned government hospitals against referring patients to higher-level facilities for minor ailments when the required treatment is available locally, directing officials to take strict action against those continuing the practice.

The Minister said the practice of referring patients unnecessarily had already changed in several government hospitals, but it had come to his notice that some facilities were still following the old system. He directed officials to ensure that patients were referred to higher-level hospitals only when there was a valid medical reason.

In cases where a patient needs to be shifted to another hospital during an emergency, the receiving hospital should be informed in advance and coordination established with its doctors, he said. Unnecessary referrals not only cause inconvenience to patients but also add to the pressure on tertiary care hospitals, the Minister said.

The directions were issued during a review of the performance, medical services, infrastructure, human resources and equipment of government hospitals under the Directorate of Secondary Healthcare (DSH).

“Community Health Centres (CHCs), Area Hospitals (AHs) and District Hospitals (DHs) should be strengthened and developed into full-fledged medical centres capable of performing major surgeries and providing a wider range of services locally,” he said.

He further added that District and Area Hospitals had the potential to provide medical services to people on par with teaching hospitals, he said. He added that 607 Assistant Professor posts were being filled in teaching hospitals, while 1,616 specialist doctors had been recruited for District Hospitals, Area Hospitals and CHCs.

He directed District Coordinators of Health Services (DCHSs) to ensure the optimum utilisation of doctors, staff, beds, equipment and diagnostic facilities available in each hospital. The Minister also ordered DCHSs to conduct surprise inspections of every hospital under their jurisdiction at least once a week instead of relying only on reports submitted from the field.

During the inspections, officials were asked to verify whether doctors and staff were reporting for duty on time, patients were receiving timely treatment, equipment was functional and medicines, diagnostic tests and scans were available.

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments.