Gas victim patients will no longer face any inconvenience when referred from one hospital to another. Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Center (BMHRC) along with the Gas Relief and Rehabilitation Department have collaborated to enhance the referral system. Under this, a common referral form has been prepared.
Doctors from any hospital of BMHRC or Gas Relief Department (such as Kamla Nehru Hospital, Shakir Ali Khan Hospital, Jawaharlal Nehru Gas Relief Hospital, etc.) will have to fill out this form when referring a patient and inform the referred hospital. Not only this, if any problems arise during treatment at the referred hospital, assistance will also be provided.
Dr Manisha Shrivastava, Director in-charge, BMHRC, said that currently, some departments such as Medicine, Orthopedics, Gynecology, Dermatology, etc,, are not available in our hospital. Similarly, departments like Cardiology, Urology, Nephrology are not available in Gas Relief Department hospitals. In such situations, Gas victim patients often need to be referred between both BMHRC and Gas Relief hospitals.
To ensure smooth referral, a meeting was recently held between officials of BMHRC and Gas Relief Department. A common referral form has been prepared. BMHRC and all Gas Relief hospitals will have to use this form when referring any patient. This form will contain the patient’s personal information along with details of their illness, current condition, and examinations, so that all information reaches the doctor at the referred hospital.
While referring, the doctors of the respective hospitals will inform the doctors of the referred hospital. For this, a list of phone numbers of all hospitals has been shared. A list has also been prepared indicating which facilities are available in which hospital.
Doctors will refer patients according to this list to avoid any inconvenience. Medical social workers will also contact the concerned patients or their relatives by phone to ensure whether appropriate treatment was received after referral.
Dr Shrivastava mentioned that there are also some departments that are neither available in BMHRC nor in any Gas Relief Hospital. In such a situation, patients will be referred to Hamidia Hospital by filling out the common referral form and social workers will establish coordination with the victim for this.
Dr Manisha Shrivastava explained that mainly due to all beds being occupied in the ICU/CCU/CTVS-ICU, patients have to be referred to other hospitals. Currently, a total of 27 beds are available in the ICU/CCU/CTVS-ICU. Efforts are being made to increase this number. Patients referred from the Dialysis and Emergency Medical Unit are transported to the relevant hospital via ambulance.
She said that our effort is to provide treatment to every patient in the available departments of BMHRC itself and avoid referring them elsewhere. Directives have been issued to all departments of the hospital in this regard, and monitoring of the referral process is underway. As a result, there has been a significant decrease in the number of patients referred from BMHRC.
