Government, private hospitals in State to be networked

From http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/07/stories/2007080776330500.htm

Government, private hospitals in State to be networked

Ramya Kannan

CHENNAI: A geographic information system-based map of private and government hospitals in Tamil Nadu will soon be available on the Internet.

An undertaking under the Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project, it aims at creating a network of hospitals all over the State to facilitate easy identification of the closest hospital.

This will reduce delay in rushing people to emergency care units and also allow travellers to identify the nearest health care on the Net.

All public and private facilities will be posted online, including detailed maps with specific locations plotted on them, according to P.W.C. Davidar, Special Secretary, Health.

These include medical college hospitals, district headquarters hospitals and primary health centres, in addition to private hospitals, nursing homes and polyclinics.

Apart from contact information for each hospital and a map, the site will also display the ISO certification and National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Health Service Providers (NABH) certification of hospitals, wherever relevant.

Specialisations, if any, will also be specified against each hospital.

As far as possible we will make sure that the information provided by private hospitals is true. We do not want to recommend quacks, Mr. Davidar said.

The process of obtaining details about private hospitals was on and was a challenge, given the number of units that had to be covered.

It would to take six to eight months before all the information was uploaded on the Net.