21 December,2010 06:37 AM IST | | Priyanka Vora
Tata Memorial Hospital's new e-system enables outstation patients to mail slides to them for medical advice; cashless transaction trials are already on
The next time you see someone sending a parcel of tissue-stained slides via courier, don't be surprised.
For, the city's Tata hospital, a tertiary centre for cancer care, has developed an e-system which allows patients across the globe to send theiru00a0 tissue samples to the hospital for medical advice.
Around 70 per cent of the hospital's patients come from other states and countries.
"A detailed examination of the samples includes an array of tests that take almost seven days to process.
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Thus, to save time, the patient's biopsy report is sent first and then we schedule a doctor's appointment," said Dr Narayan H K V, medical superintendent of the hospital.
Currently, the hospital receives such samples from doctors in and around the city.
"Many doctors send their patients' samples here because many cancer detection tests are accurate and exclusive to the institution.
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With Internet-enabled registration and processing, patients can get second opinions easily," said Narayan.
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"Once the reports are generated, the referring doctor and the patient can be intimated by e-mail followed by physical delivery of the reports." The hospital started online registrations from April.
No cash
The hospital has also started trials for smart cards, which will enable cashless transactions on the hospital premises. Each patient in the hospital will be provided with a photo-electronic card that will work like a debit card.
"The patient gets an account in which he can transfer money for making payments within the hospital using the smart cards. This will ensure that patients don't worry about carrying a lot of cash," said Dr Narayan.
Did you know?
When surgeons come across suspected cancerous lymph nodes, they send tissues for a quick pathological examination. The report, which comes within minutes, helps the doctor decide whether to remove the
affected part.
