Jaipur:
Jaipur is emerging as the new medical tourism hub in India, giving tough fight to hospitals of Delhi and Chandigarh.
According to the figures available with the SMS Hospital’s medical records a total of 53,720 patients were given free medicines from the neighbouring states in 2012. While in 2011 the number of such patients given free medicines was 42,480.
Maximum flow of patients is from the state of Haryana, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
SMS Hospital’s Medical Record Officer SP Sharma said that as Haryana is close to Rajasthan, patients of this area come in large numbers to avail the free medicine facility.
Another factor responsible for it is that in Rajasthan, the doctors are easily approachable and moreover patients coming from outside get shelter at resonable price which is not possible in Delhi and Chandigarh, he added.
Dr RC Yadav, President Teaching Faculty said that the increase of patients from the neighbouring states has not only put an extra burden but is also affecting the work efficiency.
He added, the patient flow has increased many folds but the number of doctors remains less.
According to the statistics available from the SMS Hospital, after the free medicine scheme was launched in October 2, 2011 there has been 55 per cent increase in flow of patients all across the state.
On an average the number OPD patient per day after the scheme was launched were 4,814 patients and before that the average flow was 3,323 thus showing an increase of 44.86 per cent.
The flow of indoor patients after the scheme’s announcement was 419 per day while before it was 383 registering an increase of 9.39%. The Hospital registered an overall increase of 55% in the flow of patients.
In 2012 over 18.23 lakh patients had registered in the OPD of the SMS Hospital, said hospital sources. The scheme was launched by Rajasthan government to cater to the poor patients so that free medicines reach all across the state.
source: http://www.DailyBhaskar.com / Home> Rajasthan> Jaipur / DNA, January 17th, 2013
