Naina Mishra
Chandigarh, January 13
The Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI) has finally decided to restore the three-hour window for OPD registrations to pre-pandemic timings from January 16.
Currently, the registrations are open for two hours i.e. 8 am to 10 am, against three hours (8 am to 11 am) during 2019.
Relief for patients in queues
Most patients queue up early, even before registration counters open, to ensure they get their cards made in timeOwing to long queues, many have to return empty handed as they can’t make it to counter within two hoursAn additional hour will bring relief to those who have to turn up early in harsh winters, says PGI Director
Impacted by Covid pandemic
OPDs were shut on March 19, 2020, a day after the first Covid-19 case surfaced in the cityIn April 2020, PGI shifted to tele-consultation service mode to provide General OPD servicesIt later started calling patients for physical visits to OPDs by appointment in an attempt to avoid overcrowdingCounters were subsequently opened for an hour. In Feb 2022, timings were increased to two hours i.e. from 8 am to 10 am
Three-hour window restored to pre-Covid time
10,000 patients registered daily
45 registration counters at PGI
General OPD registrations
Monday to Friday 8 am to 11 amSaturday 8 am to 10.30 am
As per official orders issued by the PGI Director, the General OPD registrations will remain open from 8 am to 11 am from Monday to Friday and 8 am to 10.30 am on Saturdays. The special clinic will run from 2 pm to 3 pm.
The institute has taken the decision to increase the timings by an hour to facilitate more patients. The PGI had suspended OPD registrations owing to the Covid pandemic in March 2020 and later switched to the tele-consultation mode. Thereafter, the window was opened for an hour i.e. from 8 am to 9 am.
In February last year, considering the consistently diminishing Covid-19 cases, the PGI had decided to scale up the physical elective outpatient services by increasing the registration timings by an hour i.e. from 8 am to 10 am.
As the OPD timings were only for two hours, many patients had to be turned away as they couldn’t make it to the counter within time due to long queues. On any given day, more than 10,000 OPD registrations are being made at the PGI even if the counters remain open for only two hours.
There are around 45 OPD counters now for registration. Most patients queue up early in the morning, even before the registration counters open, to ensure they get their registration cards before the closure.
Dr Vivek Lal, Director, PGI, said: “Though the registration numbers had been touching 10,000 every day, we have decided to restore the timings to three hours. A lot of patients used to turn up early in harsh winters to avoid not making it to the counter in time. The patients will get some relief with the extension.”
The PGI is also working on the Queue Management Software through which long queues at different counters can be managed more efficiently. The system will alert patients about their turn to see a doctor based on their token number.
The PGI has so far introduced the online payment system at all 45 counters wherein payments are being made through QR code-enabled POS machines.
